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Almost 70 thousand people in our country I am died prematurely in 2020 because ofpollution. This is more than a quarter of the 311,000 who lost their lives in theEuropean Union for air contaminated beyond the levels established by the World Health Organisation (who). We are on the podium for deaths – in absolute numbers – attributable to all contaminants, according to the report “Air quality 2022” of theEuropean Environment Agency. The main cause of deaths are Pm 2.5 particulates: fine particles with a diameter of less than Pm 10, emitted by automobiles, industries and heating.
With over 52,300 lives taken in 2020, Italy is first in absolute numbers for deaths from PM 2.5 in the 32 European countries considered. We come second only to Turkey (which beats us by a thousand dead) for the 11,200 lives shortened by excessive amounts of No2 – nitrogen dioxide, produced by all combustion processes, from diesel engines to thermoelectric plants. We remain at the top of the podium also for the 5,100 deaths caused by ozone (O3) – a pungent-smelling gas that forms through reactions favored by solar radiation, in the presence of “precursor” pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (Nox).
Pollution incentives
“Air quality policies have failed for years due to lack of political will, as the actions that should be taken are known”, says Anna Gerometta, president of the association Citizens in the air, which has just launched the campaign “No2, no thanks” to involve citizens in measuring pollutants in Rome and Milan. “We should reduce traffic in cities and discourage wood and biomass heating systems in small townsi” says Gerometta “on the contrary, the incentives for pollution continue, despite the fact that the European Commission has launched an infringement procedure against Italy for exceeding the Pm 2.5 limits and there have been two convictions for nitrogen dioxide and one for Pm 10”. After the Meloni government renewed the incentives to lower the price of fuel introduced by the Draghi government, in recent days representatives of various political forces – Lega, M5S and IV – are asking for a reduction in VAT on pellets from 22 to 5%.
The link between pollution and disability
I study “Air quality in Europe” highlights how air pollution not only shortens life but worsens it, causing permanent disabilitiesstating that “due to exposure to particulate matter 2.5 in 2019 175,702 years were lived with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease”, a disease of the respiratory system that causes an irreversible obstruction of the airways. In the ranking of years lived with this disability by adults aged 25 and over per 100,000 inhabitants, Italy is fifth out of 30 European countries after Serbia, Lithuania, Croatia and Hungary. In the same year, the exhibition at No2 led to 175,070 years lived with disability due to diabetes mellitus (also known as type 2 diabetes) in 31 European countries. For this pathology, Italy is seventh, after Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Germany and Serbia. Also in 2019, 12,253 people in 23 European countries were hospitalized with lower respiratory tract infections resulting from acute exposure to ozone. “The highest absolute number of hospital admissions was estimated for Italy (3,059) and the lowest for Iceland (less than 10)the report reads.
Pellet wood
The disturbing Italian record for deaths from air pollution was anticipated by the study “Social and health costs from pollution due to domestic heating” published in March byEpha (European Public Health Alliance). From the dossier – which examined the impact of seven air pollutants (Pm 2.5, Nox, Nh3, Soe, Co, Ch4 and Covnm) in the EU27+UK as a whole – it was found that “households in Poland and Italy face health care social costs higher than the European Union average, mainly due to the cfuels used for domestic heating”. In Italy, in particular, the wood stoves are the main culprits of air pollution: “Although they represent 35% of total final energy consumption by households, they cover 84% of total healthcare costs in the country”. Translated into economic terms this means that Italy pays €4.7 billion for health costs from domestic pollution every year, a record in the EU27 + the United Kingdom, which reaches overall health costs of €29 billion.
“Of all sources of heat production, small-scale domestic combustion of wood and coal is the cause of PM2.5 pollution, No2 (nitrogen dioxide) and ozone which causes the highest healthcare costs”confirms the study“Where there is fire, there is smoke” made byEuropean Environmental Bureau – organization that brings together 180 environmental associations in 38 European countries. “Although the new wood and pellet stoves and boilers actually emit fewer particles than previous models of stoves/boilers, these newer models of stoves/boilers still pollute much more than other methods of producing heat available” states the dossier, which recommends “discontinuing the use of small-scale wood burning to instead incentivize better insulation, district heating in cities and heat pumps outside city centers”. However, in Italy pellet stoves have benefited from over a decade of purchase incentives, including the eco-bonuswhich have made our country the largest consumer in the world of this wood fuel, for domestic use.
The study of the National Cancer Institute on the outskirts of Milan
“The total mass concentration of Pm 2.5 was significantly higher in winter (71.82 ± 4.17 μg/m3) compared to summer (16.67 ± 0.27 μg/m3), mainly due to the higher combustion emissions of woody biomass”: this is what the study states “The impact of biomass combustion on the oxidative potential of Pm 2.5 in the metropolitan area of Milan” created by researchers from the Cancer Institute of Milan in collaboration with the Isde – Medici per l’Ambiente association, which collected samples of Pm 2.5 on quartz filters during the cold season (December 2018-February 2019) and hot season (May 2019-July 2019) in the Municipality of Bareggio, about 14 km northwest of central Milan. “The increase in biomass combustion activities during the winter period also led to very high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (72.81 ± 16.59 ng/m3), more than 150 times higher than the warm period values (0.40 ± 0.07 ng/m3)”. The study concludes by urging “effective mitigation policies targeting these emissions”.
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