WHO European Centre for Environment and HealthWHO European Centre for Environment and HealthWHO European Centre for Environment and HealthWHO European Centre for Environment and Health

Scientific and technical issues:

the role of theWorld Health Organization

Michal KrzyzanowskiWHO ECEH Bonn Office

Convention/WHO Task Force on Health

CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Joint Convention/WHO Task Force on Health

• Created by the 15th Session of EB (1997)

• Reporting to EB through WGE

• Secretariat: WHO ECEH

• 7 Annual TFH Meetings – 12-14 parties

• «Permanent» members: France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

TFH products:

1999: “Health risks of particulate matter from LRTAP – preliminary assessment”

2000: Preliminary assessment of health risks of heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Pb)

2003: “Health risks of persistent organic pollutantsfrom long-range transboundary air pollution”

2003/4: “Modelling and assessment of health impacts of PM and O3”

In preparation:a) “Health risks of particulate matter from LRTAP”b) “Health risks of ozone from LRTAP”

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

“Systematic Review of health aspects of air pollution in Europe”:

selected results on particulate matter

Fine particles strongly associated with mortality and other health outcomes;

Long term exposure to current ambient PM concentrations may lead to marked reduction in life expectancy;

No threshold PM concentration below which ambient PM has no effect on health

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Long term exposure to PM and risk of mortality

Source: Pope et al, JAMA 2002

TFH 2003: “..apply the relative risk for all cause mortality… in the extended American Cancer Society (ACS) cohort study Pope et al. (2002).”

RR= 1.06 (1.02-1.11) per 10 µg/m3 PM2.5

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Particulate matter

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Fine (<2.5 µm) Coarse (>2.5 µm)Ultrafine (<0.1

µm)Accumulation

Composition

SulfateEC, Metal compoundsOrganic compounds

Sulfate, Nitrate, Ammonium, H+, EC, compounds: organic, Pb, Cd, V, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe, Particle-bound water

Dust, fly ash, crustal elements, sea salt, pollen; road, tire, brake pad wear debris

Travel distance

<1 to 10s km 100s to 1000s km

<1 to 10s km (100s to 1000s km in dust storms)

Selected characteristics of PM10

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Loss of life expectancyDue to PM2.5 from anthropogenic sources

2000 2010Loss of Life expectancy in months

Source:EMEP & IIASA

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

RR for mortality endpoints related to a 10 µg/m3 increase in pollution including 95 % confidence intervals; left part: PM10, black smoke (BS) and ozone from European

studies; right part: PM2.5 from North American studies

all

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0.99

0.995

1

1.005

1.01

1.015

1.02

1.025

1.03

PM10 BS Ozone PM2.5

Eureopean studies Amercian studies

Summary relative risk estimates (95% CI) for 10g/m3 increase in pollutant for all cause and cause-specific mortality

(Anderson et al, WHO 2004)

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Ozone concentrations (SOMO35)EMEP & IIASA estimates (average meteorology)

2000 2020 (no further climate measures)

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Conclusions on causal associations:

PM and respiratory deaths in post-neonatal period Ambient air poll & lung function development

(pre & post natal) PM and O3 exposure and asthma aggravation Pb and neurobehavioural development

Several suggestions for causal associations in available data

The effects of air pollution on The effects of air pollution on children's health and developmentchildren's health and development

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

ConclusionsConclusions of WHO assessments of WHO assessments

Combination of local AND regional/international measures is necessary to reduce health burden of air pollution

Significant health effects occurr at pollution levels common in Europe; LRTAP contributes significantly to the risk

The evidence is sufficient to reduce levels of air pollutants including PM, NO2 and ozone.

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

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CLRTAP: 22th Session of the Executive Body25th Anniversary Special Event: PAST SUCCESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Schematic illustration of different PM10 levels in different locations (modified from Lentschow et al., 2000)