Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL)

🖥️ We're looking forward to hearing the latest findings from the ATHLETE project, for which we are a project partner. ⤵️

The health community’s engagement on air quality is stronger than ever. Next week, we’ll be at the Second Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health in Colombia, joining the call for bold, science-driven action to achieve clean air for better health. 🍃💙 #CleanAir #AirPollution #CleanAir4Health European Lung Foundation European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) European Respiratory Society Association of European Cancer Leagues Christian Horemans Salud por Derecho - Right to Health Foundation Susana Paixao

🎉 A moment to celebrate! On 12 March, EU Member States adopted the European Commission's proposal to restrict the use of the endocrine-disrupting PFAS pesticide flufenacet. HEAL welcomes this decision as an important step to protect people’s health. The most vulnerable to the impacts of health-harming pesticides are those who come in close contact with pesticides in their work or their communities. Whilst the restriction of flufenacet is a great achievement and one that we have advocated for, it is important to remember that flufenacet is just one PFAS pesticide linked with hormone disruption.  HEAL is calling for further action to protect health:  🟢 Urgent steps towards effective reduction of pesticide use   🟢 Commitment to strictly follow the scientific evidence on pesticides’ harmful effects   🟢 Implementation and enforcement of existing pesticide legislation (the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive and the Regulation on Plant Protection Products) -------- To learn more about the effects of pesticides on health, join us for a HEAL webinar, taking place as part of Pesticide Action Week: 💻 The impact of pesticides on human health 🎤 Nadia C. and Dr Sylvain Chamot, MD, PhD 📅 Wed 26 March 2025, 15.00 CET    📝 Register now: https://lnkd.in/eXA9UHmz Générations Futures Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe

Air pollution: ⚠️ The leading environmental risk to health in Europe 💙🧠🫁 A cause of many diseases (cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer, diabetes, dementia, neurological and mental)   ⚠️ Results in hundreds of thousands of premature deaths   💶 Causes hundreds of billions of euros of costs annually   🫂 Affects everyone – the most vulnerable are: pregnant women, children, the elderly, those with pre-existing health conditions or facing socio-economic health inequalities The good news? Most of the health and economic impacts of air pollution are preventable—with urgent and impactful policy action. That's what the EU Healthy Air Coalition is working towards. EUHAC is a group of Brussels-based organisations representing the health sector, including doctors and other health care professionals, scientists, public health experts and groups, respiratory or cancer patients and health insurance funds. HEAL is a founder member of the EU Healthy Air Coalition and hosts the Coalition Secretariat. EUHAC recently organised a high-level policy outlook event at the European Parliament, hosted by MEP Javi Lopez, with, among others, Dr Maria Neira, Director of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization, Veronica Manfredi, Director for Zero Pollution at the European Commission; Ian Marnane, Head of Unit for Pollution and Health at European Environment Agency (EEA) and Miriam Weber, from the city of Utrecht and WHO Healthy Cities Network, calling on policymakers to prioritise swift and effective implementation of the recently revised Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD) and ensure that clean air measures are adequately funded and seamlessly integrated into broader climate and health strategies. Diverse health voices, united in purpose. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/eXcWAhWb 

The upcoming trilogues and negotiations for the decisive improvement of the EU Toy safety regulation are a crucial opportunity to protect children from harmful chemicals.    To ensure the highest level of protection, it is essential that the regulation includes the following:   🟠 A ban on PFAS - the #ForeverChemicals  🟠 A ban on the #bisphenol group of chemicals, to reduce children's exposure to these endocrine disruptors   We have cosigned a letter to Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné calling on his commitment and guidance as a trusted actor, to ensure children will no longer risk being exposed when playing with toys. Read the letter here ✉️👉 https://lnkd.in/dDS3G_D8   #ToxicFreeToys 🪀

How is the climate emergency linked to health? Recent extreme weather events, from the devastating Los Angeles wildfires to the catastrophic floods in Spain and Central Europe, are stark reminders of the growing health threats we face from accelerated climate change. Key facts: 🌍 The EU Climate Risk Assessment EUCRA (2024) highlighted the threat to Europeans’ health from heat and air pollution from wildfires especially and called for greater policy action.        🌍 In 2023, more than 47,000 people died in Europe as a result of high temperatures. (Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) study, August 2024)   🌍 The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine predicts 2.3 million additional deaths from heat in 854 cities by the end of the century. 🌍 Vulnerable groups – children, the elderly, those suffering from disease, and people facing socio-economic inequalities – face the greatest health risks from climate change. The health economic cost of climate inaction is already too high. We need to see swift, decisive climate action to strengthen health resilience and prevent further suffering. The urgency to act is clear. The European Respiratory Society (ERS) event, “Respiratory health risks in the era of increased climate change and natural disasters” explores the links between health and climate change, as well as mitigation and adaptation. 📅 Monday 17 March. 09:30 to 17:30 CET 📍Location: The Hotel Brussels We are excited to share that Anne Stauffer, HEAL Deputy Director, will be a panellist for the session, ‘Mitigation and adaptation – which climate and health policies are needed to face the emergency?’. We hope that you can join her. 📩 Find more details and register via the link in the comments. ⤵️ 

Tomorrow there will be a debate on the Vision for Agriculture and Food at the European Parliament. MEPs and the European Commission will discuss plans for the future of the agri-food sector in the EU. HEAL appreciates the vision's broad ambition to work towards a more sustainable, healthier and fairer agricultural sector that functions within planetary boundaries and the commitment to “operate in line with a One Health approach.” However, we still need to see: 🔵 Urgent steps towards effective reduction of pesticide use  🔵 Commitment to strictly follow the scientific evidence on pesticides’ harmful effects  🔵 Implementation and enforcement of existing pesticide legislation (the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive and the Regulation on Plant Protection Products) "People’s and farmers' health should be at the heart of the EU’s vision on agriculture and food. The most vulnerable to the impacts of health-harming pesticides are those who come in close contact with pesticides in their work or in their communities. We must see pesticide-related occupational diseases included in plans to improve working conditions in the European agri-food sector.”  Iiris Lamminmaki, Advocacy and Campaigns Officer, Health and Chemicals Find out more: ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eJaHK4Du

The Health and Environment Alliance is hosting a webinar on the impact of pesticides on human health during Pesticide Action Week 2025. 📅 Wed 26 March 2025, 15.00 CET 📝 Register now: https://lnkd.in/eXA9UHmz Speakers: Nadia Cerioli European Environment Agency Chemicals expert Formerly head of the pesticides sector at the Italian Ministry of the Environment, she has always been passionate about the environment and its protection, both in her studies and in her work. After graduating in Environmental Toxicology and Environmental Sciences, she gained extensive work experience in environmental protection. She has worked in this field for more than 20 years and her varied experience has given her a broad perspective on environmental issues. She moved from water laboratory activities to assessing the impact of chemicals and pesticides, with experience in project management and remediation of polluted sites. She has a strong expertise in ecotoxicity and environmental fate assessment of pesticides and their sustainable use to protect human health and the environment. Dr Sylvain Chamot, MD, PhD Regional Center for Occupational and Environmental Diseases of Hauts-de-France, CHU Amiens-Picardie Laboratoire Péritox, Perinatality & Toxic Risks (UMR_I 01) ; Picardie Jules Verne University (UPJV)/French National Institute for the Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS) Dr. Chamot is a university hospital practitioner in occupational medicine and head of the Centre Régional de Pathologies Professionnelles et Environnementales des Hauts-de-France for the Amiens site at the CHU Amiens-Picardie. He is a researcher at the PéiriTox – Perinatal and toxic risk laboratory, a joint research unit of the Université de Picardie Jules Verne (Amiens) and INERIS. Dr. Chamot co-created the first 'pesticides and paediatric pathologies' consultation in France as part of the creation of the compensation fund for pesticide victims and to provide a unique right for children and their families. As a doctor in environmental health sciences, he is particularly interested in the impact of exposure to endocrine disruptors of environmental or occupational origin on thyroid function.

Today, Members of the European Parliament will have an exchange on the Clean Industrial Deal, recently communicated by the European Commission.   HEAL is concerned that it misses the opportunity to set the EU on the path for swift and significant pollution reduction and disease prevention. The health impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution lead to significant health, societal and economic costs: 💶 Air pollution leads to hundreds of billions of EUR in health cost annually. 💶 Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals results in up to 163 billion EUR in health cost annually. 💶 Exposure to PFAS, the forever chemicals, is estimated to cost up to 84 billion EUR annually, this is likely an underestimate. 💶 Between 1980 and 2023, the overall economic cost for climate-related extreme events (floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts) amounted to an estimated EUR 738 billion in the EU. 🟠 In the summer of 2023, more than 47,000 people lost their lives due to heat exposure in Europe. Pollution prevention and control measures are the most cost-effective approach to reduce pollution for better health. This needs to happen through key EU laws including REACH and NECD, as well as swiftly phasing out PFAS and the burning of fossil fuels. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ePsZcEuz

Low-emission zone in Bradford (UK) improves air quality and reduces health costs A new study has found that the second-largest low-emission zone in the UK reduced air pollution levels and improved health within its first year. This study adds to a growing body of evidence on tangible health benefits of low-emission zones from across Europe, as part of efforts for healthier and more sustainable transport systems in urban areas. Since September 2022, older and more polluting lorries, buses, and taxis have been required to pay to enter the Bradford low-emission zone, which covers 22.4 square kilometres. The LEZ was coupled with initiatives to support the uptake of cleaner vehicles. One in five of the city’s residents live inside the zone. These people tend to be the most socio-economically disadvantaged and also the most likely to experience poor health. Key findings after one year:   🍃 Lower nitrogen dioxide levels from traffic. 🍃 25% fewer doctor’s visits for respiratory illnesses. 🍃 24% fewer doctor’s visits for heart problems. 🍃 Health benefits extended citywide, not just within the zone. 🍃 Estimated monthly health service savings of £30,743.   This research highlights the critical role of clean air policy in improving health. The revised Ambient Air Quality Directive must be swiftly implemented across Europe. By reducing air pollution we can protect health, prevent disease and early death, and reduce costs. 📖 Read more in The Guardian: https://lnkd.in/eV6n7MwN 📑 Full study in the comments ⤵️    #LEZ #LowEmissionZone #CleanAirNow