220 deaths from air pollution in one year
Pollution caused 220 premature deaths in Malta in 2012, according to a study by the European Environment Agency.
While Malta has made substantial progress in cutting air pollution it still exceeded certain limits set by the EU and the World Health Organisation, according to the latest air quality report released by the EU agency.
The report is based on data from 2012 and 2013. During this period Malta’s air monitoring stations registered levels of particulate matter and ozone exposure higher than those permitted by WHO.
The major causes of these two dangerous pollutants are traffic and the building industry.
Particulate matter can cause or aggravate cardiovascular and lung disease, heart attack and arrhythmia. It can also cause cancer.
The report also makes a health impact assessment. It calculates the average number of years of potential life lost (YYL) owing to premature death caused by air pollution.
The measurement takes into account the age at which deaths occur, giving a higher weighting to deaths that occur in a person’s younger years.
In Malta in 2012, 2,300 potential years of life were lost as a result of higher-than-permitted particulate matter levels and another 300...