At least 16,000 people die prematurely due to pollution in Spain , according to estimates by the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs (MARM). This figure is seven times the number of deaths in traffic accidents in 2010. In the European Union (EU) as a whole, the figure rises to 370,000 deaths due to poor air quality . Children, the elderly and the chronically ill or those with heart disease are the groups most vulnerable to this environmental problem.
"The scientific community has no doubts regarding the harmful effects of pollution on respiratory health and agrees on the need to reduce urban pollution ", explains Cristina Martínez, coordinator of the environment area of the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR).
"Breathing clean air is a right of all people," says Juan Ruiz Manzano, president of SEPAR. The gases emitted by road traffic exhausts and industrial or energy-producing surfaces are the main causes of this environmental health problem.
Another European study, which includes Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Seville and Valencia, reveals that if the levels of these pollutant particles suspended in the air (less than 2.5 microns) were reduced to 20 particles / microgram per cubic meter, in In each city, 11,375 premature deaths would be avoided, that is, 8,053 deaths from cardiopulmonary diseases and 1,296 from lung cancer.
