Pollution kills and makes sick. Who could ignore it today? The annual number of deaths allocated to pollution in France is estimated between 40,000 and 67,000. More than 10 times the number of deaths by road accident. Pollution affects the most vulnerable subjects such as children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those who suffer from a chronic respiratory or cardiac pathology.
Pollution peaks are associated with more frequent respiratory infections. The association with mortality linked to the COVID 19 was recently confirmed by a French team. The association with bronchiolitis with VRS (syncytial respiratory virus) has been established in children. It is probably the same with the flu. Sub -drawn deaths are also more frequent in the event of a pollution peak.
However, it is chronic pollution that has significant long -term health effects and in particular on chronic diseases such as asthma. The mechanisms that bind pollution and lung cancer, an epidemiological reality known for several years, are beginning to be elucidated. The harms of pollution and in particular particles of less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM 2.5) are now well established.
The victims’ figures are clearly underestimated
To protect the populations, objective often proclaimed by our elected officials, we must reduce pollution and this in a drastic and urgent manner. A short -term lever is the reduction in pollution linked to the use of thermal engines, in particular diesel, large providers of fine particles. The dust emitted by vehicles outside the exhaust, in particular brake dust, are also to be taken into account.
This presupposes an important effort of car manufacturers to meet the pollution standards enacted by Europe, standards that have been evolving since 1992. The latest Euro 6 version dates from almost 10 years and the implementation of a more standard drastic, the Euro 7 standard, was scheduled before the end of 2021.
We arrive at the end of 2022! How many deaths and diseases have been caused by this period which is the fruit of financial issues which clearly take precedence over the health issues? Recent modeling (1) suggests that the implementation of this Euro 7 standard on polluting emissions of vehicles could avoid 5,900 deaths in France between 2027 and 2050 or around 260 dead per year. And that is without counting the suffering of thousands of patients.
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