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European Environment Agency: our health is not sufficiently protected

20% of the deaths registered in Romania are related with pollution, double the European Union average.

Air pollution has serious consequences for the health of European citizens. Poor air quality is still a common occurrence in most EU Member States, as well as in many European cities.

WESSLING Romania takes position and aims to sound the alarm and raise public awareness about the situation regarding air pollution, the dangers and compromises in the market regarding the application of monitoring and legislation and talks about what should be the responsibility of the an environmental analysis laboratory.

Romanian citizens continue to breathe harmful air, according to a report by the European Environment Agency which explains the differences between Eastern and Western Europe, especially due to the unsatisfactory implementation of relevant policies and environmental legislation.

The European Environment Agency's report reveals large differences between European countries in terms of the incidence of premature death and diseases due to excessive concentrations of air pollutants, such as: particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide ( SO2) and ground-level ozone (O3). The EEA warns that air pollution affects the population every day and that, although its most visible effect is pollution peaks, long-term exposure to lower doses poses a greater threat to human health.

The report of the European Environment Agency presents a very serious fact: 1 in 5 deaths in Romania is due to pollution. At the opposite pole are Sweden and Denmark, with a share of 10%. Over 20% of people do not have green spaces near their homes. While in cities such as Prague, Turin, Madrid, Vienna, Stockholm or Glasgow, 98% of urban populations have green areas within walking distance.

Interdisciplinary and international

Invitation to reflect: Why in Romania the percentage of deaths related to pollution is double the EU average?

The Romania Country Report on Assessing the Implementation of Environmental Policies gives us some of the answers. Enforcement of legislation on the ground continues to be a major challenge, including a lack of proper planning and coordination. Romania is among the countries with the highest number of violations of environmental legislation in terms of:

  • Air pollution (eg exceeding PM10 emission limit values)
  • Non-adaptation of old large combustion plants to EU standards
  • Authorization of projects without the necessary environmental assessments and permits.

As an independent, impartial laboratory, not politically enrolled or subject to any other interest than environmental responsibility and fairness towards our partners, WESSLING Romania has often faced strange and incorrect situations in the market, as:

  • Failure to comply with environmental legislation by circumventing or ignoring current environmental laws with the tacit consent of the authorities is a painful compromise with long-term effects.
  • Poor control of law enforcement, acceptance of compromises
  • Complicity of environmental laboratories that provide the desired results in monitoring

Even if issuing a test report involves scientific, deontological, moral and social responsibility, falsifying results or data, making test reports with the values ​​desired by the client is a common practice of some laboratories only to satisfy a client and he thus wins a contract. The economic power of large industrial polluters is, unfortunately, often difficult to say.

Have you ever wondered why there can be differences of over 50% between the offers of different environmental analysis laboratories? What magic formula have some laboratories found to minimize the cost of human resources, equipment used, or analysis itself? Where do you cut, what do I make a discount from? These are the questions that, with the pertinent and good knowledge of the market, we want to raise to the public opinion and to the decision-makers from the big companies.

As an independent, impartial, politically unregistered laboratory or subject to any interest other than environmental responsibility and fairness to our partners,

WESSLING Romania and the entire WESSLING group stand out on this market through seriousness, impartiality and responsible analysis. It's hard to change mindsets, but we will succeed.

Air quality in Europe - 2020 report.pdf