Assessing ‘ultra-fine’ particulate matter

25.6.2018

Question for written answer E-003442-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Joëlle Mélin (ENF)

The Étang de Berre, located in the south of France, is one of the largest industrial areas in Europe, with more than 200 factories.

It turns out that, in 2010, the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance highlighted an excessive number of hospitalisations for cardiovascular conditions and for multiple illnesses west of Étang de Berre.

In January 2017, new information emerged from the community-based participatory environmental health survey (CBPEH), which noted the high likelihood of a link ‘between the illnesses and industrial pollution’.

However, in 2011, the Eco-citizen Institute launched campaigns to measure the air quality, which resulted in it noting that the air around the industrial area ‘was made up of 80% ultra-fine particulate matter and [that] the chemical composition of the air pollutants was extremely complex’.

Ultra-fine particulate matter is the most dangerous for our health because it gets deep into our bodies. However, if Air Paca does not measure it, it is because European legislation does not require Member States to measure the levels of ultra-fine particulate matter.

Therefore, we would like to know whether the Commission wishes to encourage Member States to measure the levels of ultra-fine particulate matter in order to assess toxicity of the air in industrial areas in more detail.