Milanese Children Suffer as City Named Pollution Capital of Europe
Sun, Mar 9, 2008
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After years of close competition, we finally have a clear winner in the “Pollution Capital of Europe” contest.
Image by Trista B
While Milan may be better known for fashion and (everywhere except America) excellent soccer teams, it appears that it’s also the most polluted city in the whole of Europe.
More alarming is the effect the pollution seems to be having. Toxic fumes, mostly from traffic, appear to be raising infant mortality rates and making children across the city sick, according to the city’s Macedonio Melloni hospital.
Ironically, the announcement comes on the heels of the new “ecopass”, a congestion charge designed to help reduce traffic and air pollution in the city.
Milan has very high levels of pm10s, small particles with a diameter of less than 10 micrometres. These are produced mostly by car exhaust and have been linked with breathing problems, heart disease and cancer. The levels of pm10s in Milan have been over the safety limit for 60% of the days since the ecopass was implemented.
Now, a hospital study has shown that children are at high risk of serious health issues when pm10 levels are high. A study at the Milanese hospital compared the admission rates of children with the pm10 levels for the day. In a 10-day period with safe levels, only 176 children were admitted. When pm10 levels topped more than double the safe limit, more than 400 children were admitted in a 10-day period.
Dr Alessandro Fiocchi, lead author of the study, said the results “confirmed the urgent need to limit the damage that is affecting one child in four in the region”.
Emily Backus is the leader of Milan’s Parents Against Smog. She said the ecopass was a token gesture and was not surprised it has had so little effect. Backus said: “The pollution charge introduced January 1 covers just 4 per cent of the city’s territory and is not particularly onerous: a 10-year-old diesel truck can tool about the historic centre for €2.5 with the purchase of 50 passes.”
Perhaps the biggest signifier that pollution is a problem in the city is the response by the fashion elite. Nowadays, smog masks are the newest accessory worn by the Milanese fashion crowd.
Info from Telegraph
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March 10th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Yea but the Netherlands is Europe’s toilet, honestly some of the most narrow minded and extremely conservative, not to mention xenophobic, individuals come from the Netherlands. I’m not saying they all are, but if ever I could generalize the beliefs of a country so wholeheartedly – it’s true of the Dutch.
March 10th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Yeah, no kidding. Milan’s air is disgusting. It’s my least favorite city in Italy. Even all the Norther Italians I know think of it as a dirty, overly industrialized city.
Good news about the new legislation, though. I really hope it helps to clean things up.
March 11th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
If that’s true how come this country opened up to all those immigrants from all over the world that like it so much that they do not even return to their place of birth?
March 11th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
WOW I’ve never seen such ignorance coming from an (I assume) European.. Do you even know what Conservatism is? It’s pretty much nonexistant in the Netherlands and Italy is ironically one of the most conservative Western European nations. Maybe you were talking about right winged? In which case your comment would be less baffling but still completely off the mark. In any case by any measure the Netherlands is and has always been one of the most liberal progressive nations in the world. What exactly in the Netherlands do you find so conservative? Pretty much the only political party that we have that could be considered conservative by international/Italian standards is the SGP and they have 1% of the vote.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I think Fugal means “right-wing” when he says Conservative, the same way that the article writer says “Soccer” when they probably mean football.
March 11th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
yeah, I’m sure he does. Unlike the US, in Europe right-wing (most of times) means liberal
March 11th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Why monitoring 10+10 days only, with the first period across Christmas holidays ? In Rome (>500 Km away) we had the same increase of children admission rates at hospitals during the Christmas period. This was caused by family doctors being on holiday, not by pollution
( article in Italian ).
Also, it’s flu season. You can get cleaner data during other seasons, by eliminating one possible variable.
I’m pretty sure Dr Alessandro Fiocchi can easily obtain data for one year or more, since he works at a hospital. So I’m confident he can provide more reliable findings from a statistical point of view.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Yeah but even if liberal has different meaning in Europe and America conservative doesn’t really. And the Netherlands is still probably the least conservative country in the world with the only competition being Scandinavia. We are also not especially right winged and certainly not intolerant. Not by European standards and certainly not by international standards. It’s a weird comment by Fugal.
March 12th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
If I lived in that city I would move out right away. Air pollution is known to take out within 5-10 years of normal life expectancy.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:54 am
It appears to be coincidental that fashion and waste are in close correlation.
I do hope that fashion is going to become more sustainable in Milano.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
hope the kids get help soon!
March 19th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
1) none of you understood the point of this article
2) what has Netherlands or immigrants have to do with milan’s pollution?
3) from where the hell are you writing? because we dont think london, or other british/american cities are less polluted than milan. and by the way what kind of name is gavin hudson?
4) we are italians so think twice before posting such idiot comments
5) four points are enough. :)
May 15th, 2009 at 4:42 am
Have you ever been to sofia??? I stayed overthere in the center for two years and i had to runaway. Milan is really clean compare to it. (Now i live 20km frm Milan). I remember sometimes i decided to wash my car and within 24 hours was more then 1cm of dust on it. To open window means decide to invite cleaning service.. Milan is still ok. If europe doesnot finish for you behind germany try to have a look bit further east. Car park conteins more then 50 percent of old wracks with no katalysators.Check it out. …. But compare to other italian cities Milan is ugly….I agree