Health Signals

Introduction

The EEA zero pollution monitoring assessment is mainly based on formal, EU-wide data sets and indicators. To broaden the assessment, other sources of information are also examined. These sources include findings from research, country-level information and other information that may help highlight pollution issues that are insufficiently addressed by legislative or other reporting. This section of the zero pollution monitoring assessment presents a series of short case studies that highlight some of these additional sources of information. We refer to these as ‘Signals’.

The Signals below align with the subsections of the ‘Zero pollution and health’ section of the assessment and deal with air, noise, water, chemical and soil pollution.

A brief assessment on key knowledge gaps for each of these topic areas is also presented (Figure 1).

Navigate here on the 5 signals categories:

Air

1. New approaches to assessing air quality
2. Good indoor air quality cannot be taken for granted — example of CO2 traffic light for schools
3. Impacts of asbestos on health
4. Vulnerable groups’ exposure to pollution
5. Emerging air pollutants

Noise

1. Combined impacts of road traffic noise and air pollution in urban areas
2. Emerging evidence on the adverse health effects of noise

Water

1. Antimicrobial resistance
2. Health risks from cyanobacteria
3. Pesticides in drinking water

Chemicals

1. Regrettable substitution
2. How chemical mixtures affect human health

Soil

1. Long-term impacts of sludge spreading on agricultural land

Figure 1. Knowledge gaps — zero pollution and health

Evangelija Ivanoska, Well with Nature /EEA