More than 900 people are dying prematurely because of air pollution. Every year it’s more than two people per day, air quality expert Pierre Dornier tells Radio Schuman.
Pollution in the Belgian capital has been reaching dangerous levels lately, putting the residents at increased risk of diseases including asthma, cancer and heart complications. The Brussels parliament, however, has voted for delaying necessary steps in the city’s plan to reduce emissions.
Pierre Dornier, founder of Les chercheurs d’air, a Brussels-based organisation working for improved air quality, told Radio Schuman that air pollution claims nearly a 1000 lives prematurely every year.
“In Brussels it’s mainly roads,” Dornier said, when asked about the cause of the deteriorating air quality, “A half and a quarter of particulate matter emissions is caused by road transport. So definitely road transport is the main culprit in Brussels.”
Even masks may not save us from breathing in polluted air as it would induce heavier breathing – pulling particles in lower quantities but deeper than normal breathing.
Radio Schuman today also discusses the ninth Brussels conference on Syria, the first since the collapse of Bashar Assad’s government late last year, and a deterioration in the rule of law observed across several European countries.
Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Maïa de la Baume, with audio editing by David Brodheim. Music by Alexandre Jas.
