For 96 doctors and specialists it is high time that the Brussels Region does something to the air pollution. They write that in an open letter The standard.
"Your population lives in dangerous and unhealthy air". With this the initiators want to wake up the Brussels Region. According to them - 96 doctors and specialists from different domains - it is already five for twelve.
They believe that air pollution causes a lot of damage to health. The list of possible consequences is not minus: cardiovascular disease, lung and bladder cancers, chronic bronchitis and asthma, leukemia in children and childesta. It also ensures that 632 early deaths per year.
Moreover, the social weakest is most difficult to affect.
Low emission zone is not enough
Last week the Brussels Region announced that they were going to work on the low emission zone: diesel vehicles built for 1992 from 1 January the Brussels Region may no longer enter.
But according to the signatories of the open letter, this is well insufficient. Benoit Nemery, doctor and toxicologist attached to the KUL and one of the signatories: "The low emission zone is a good thing, but everyone knows that it is more than insufficient. It is a weakness because we will sit out of the city's most polluting cars. That is not bad, but there are still polluting diesel cars. "
In addition, particulate matter and soot are very dangerous for the population because they penetrate deep into the lungs and blood vessels.
By the way, an investigation, commissioned by the Brussels Region, it appears that such a low-emission zone is well insufficient.
Governments must show more ambition
The doctors set concrete plans to achieve the objectives. For example, sustainable vehicles must be encouraged and polluting cars are heavier. Cars that run idling must also be prohibited. According to Nijmery, air pollution must be tackled structurally. We must all drive less by car.
It is therefore to wait and see how the Brussels Region will respond, but the fact is that air pollution should not only be addressed at the local level. "We just don't want to point to Brussels with the finger, because other cities don't do so well," says Nemery.
Source: Loutfi Belghmidi, VRT