HEAL advocates for policies to benefit peoples’ health and the environment
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Press contact: Nea Pakarinen nea@env-health.org
Press release: Clean air in cities for better health
23rd April 2024
Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to everyone's health across the EU, and one of the leading risk factors for chronic diseases. Today, pathways to reach clean air in cities by 2030 will be discussed by more than 340 participants from 33 countries at an international conference taking place in Brussels.
Letter from EU Healthy Air Coalition to MEPs: Support the trilogue deal for cleaner air and better health
16th April 2024
The EU Healthy Air Coalition has sent a letter to members of the European Parliament,…
HEAL letter on EU Strategic Agenda 2024-2029: Include and prioritise both climate and environmental action for healthier people and a healthier planet
11th April 2024
HEAL has today sent a letter to members of the European Council regarding the EU…
Infographic: The EU must protect people’s health and the environment against endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)
3rd April 2024
The EDC-Free Europe coalition, of which HEAL is a member, has launched a new infographic illustrating the harmful impacts of exposure to known and suspected endocrine disruptors on our health and the environment.
Infographic: How can an EU-wide PFAS restriction be a game-changer for health?
27th March 2024
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of over 10 000 chemicals also known as “forever chemicals’ are taxing our health and economy. HEAL’s new infographic highlights key strengths and weaknesses in the proposed EU restriction on PFAS.
HEAL and Mutualités Libres’ conference: Healthy cities, healthy people – Pathways for clean air in the EU’s urban environments
14th March 2024
On 23 April 2024, HEAL and the Belgian Independent Health Insurance Funds (MLOZ) will be organising an international conference in Brussels, under the auspices of the Belgian EU Presidency.
Press release: Clean air in cities for better health
23rd April 2024
Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to everyone's health across the EU, and one of the leading risk factors for chronic diseases. Today, pathways to reach clean air in cities by 2030 will be discussed by more than 340 participants from 33 countries at an international conference taking place in Brussels.
Press Note: Health groups call on the European Parliament to protect children’s health from harmful chemicals in toys
12th March 2024
Press note: Health groups call on the European Parliament to protect children’s health from harmful chemicals in toys
Press Note: Health groups welcome restriction on widely used sub-family of PFAS
1st March 2024
Press note: Member state’s representatives voted in the REACH Committee to restrict PFHxA – a subfamily of the “forever chemicals” PFAS - that is widely used in for example clothing and food contact materials.
EU geht wichtigen Schritt, um Menschen europaweit vor Luftverschmutzung zu schützen
21st February 2024
Berlin / Brüssel, 21. Februar 2024 Gesundheitsexpert:innen begrüßen die gestern im Trilog erzielte Einigung zur Aktualisierung der…
Press release: Faced with a public health emergency from air pollution, the EU is one step closer to finally tackling it
21st February 2024
Health groups across Europe call for the European Parliament and member states to swiftly adopt the agreement reached in trilogue on updating EU’s clean air standards (revised Ambient Air Quality Directive). The deal includes updates on maximum levels for the major air pollutants, strengthened monitoring requirements, better information to people including vulnerable groups. The draft law also introduces new access to justice and compensation rules.
Press note: Health groups from across the EU call for ambitious air quality law
19th February 2024
As the Ambient Air Quality Directive revision negotiations are ramping up ahead of the final trilogue on 20 February 2024 health experts from across the EU, including from Germany, Poland, Italy, France and Spain, warn decision makers about the potential impacts of exemptions and delays.
Press note: Health groups warn of delays and inequalities in updating EU clean air standards
7th February 2024
The Ambient Air Quality Directive revision negotiations must urgently be concluded ahead of the EU elections this June. As trilogue negotiations continue, the Council has included the potential for decade-long exemptions from adhering to the legally binding air pollution limit values, based on countries’ GDP compared to EU average.
Letter from EU Healthy Air Coalition to MEPs: Support the trilogue deal for cleaner air and better health
16th April 2024
The EU Healthy Air Coalition has sent a letter to members of the European Parliament,…
HEAL letter on EU Strategic Agenda 2024-2029: Include and prioritise both climate and environmental action for healthier people and a healthier planet
11th April 2024
HEAL has today sent a letter to members of the European Council regarding the EU…
Health organisations call on MEPs to support the trilogue deal for cleaner air and better health
6th March 2024
Next Monday 11 March, the ENVI committee will be voting on “Ambient air quality and…
European health sector letter to EU environment ministers: swiftly adopt AAQD deal
5th March 2024
HEAL and six more organisations representing the European health sector have sent a letter to…
Joint letter to the REACH Committee on the restriction of PFHxA
29th February 2024
Seven NGOs, including HEAL, sent this letter working on the protection of health to the REACH Committee regarding its discussion on the restriction of PFHxA under the REACH Regulation and on the restriction on lead in ammunition for hunting, outdoor sports shooting and in fishing.
Opinion: The latest update of EU clean air standards could benefit Poland greatly
1st March 2024
The revised Ambient Air Quality Directive is a great tool for the Polish government to swiftly shift from the costly smoggy past to a clear new era, with happier and healthier people in tow, Weronika Michalak, Director of HEAL Poland writes for Euronews.
The Polish government is in a key position to ensure an ambitious EU Air Quality Directive
20th February 2024
The EU has a unique public health opportunity with the current revision of the Ambient Air Quality Directive, and the newly elected Polish government can help ensure this. Watering the law’s ambition down with delays and exemptions would be a major, unacceptable setback for people in Poland - one of the countries with the highest economic burden to health from air pollution in the EU.
Opinion: How industry can launder a health-risking substance: Titanium dioxide should remain classified as carcinogenic within the EU
8th November 2023
Titanium dioxide (TiO2), often used for its whitening capacity and found in daily products such as sunscreens and cosmetics, is suspected of causing cancer. But the hazard classification of the substance as a suspected carcinogen has been a long and winding road, with the scientific and political battle culminating in a legal row at the European Union’s highest court—to the detriment of citizens and workers - Natacha Cingotti writes for Social Europe.
Tribune collectif: La réglementation européenne sur les substances chimiques doit être révisée d’urgence
18th April 2023
Alors qu’une consultation publique visant à restreindre l’usage des « polluants éternels » a été lancée le 22 mars, des mutuelles et des organisations spécialisées en santé environnementale rappellent, dans une tribune au « Le Monde », l’urgence d’une actualisation ambitieuse du règlement européen sur les substances chimiques.
Europe’s raw materials rush does not justify keeping workers in the dark about lithium’s dangers
29th March 2023
The increasing reliance on lithium compounds in critical sectors should be reason enough for European authorities to support a thorough investigation of their properties. They also demand a speedy agreement on how to communicate about them to workers and end-users. But instead, a scientifically-backed proposal to classify three lithium salts for their toxicity to reproduction under Europe’s harmonised hazard identification system is at a dead end.
There is no “safe level” of air pollution
18th October 2021
Health groups call on the leaders of the Western Balkan countries to harmonize national air quality standards with the World Health Organization Global air quality guidelines. Health experts should be actively involved in these decision-making processes to ensure the timely integration of public health measures into environmental policies. Compliance with WHO recommendations brings multiple benefits – reduced incidence of chronic diseases and premature deaths, reduced overall health costs and, most importantly, better health and higher productivity of people.
A tale of disruption: looking back at one decade of Europe’s (unkept) promises to address endocrine disrupting pesticides
29th July 2021
By using the example of the ongoing assessments of five substances that have long been suspected to disrupt our thyroid function, HEAL's Natacha Cingotti and Angeliki Lyssimachou illustrate the extremely slow pace of and the related weakness in the implementation of Europe’s promises to protect people, animals and wildlife from effects associated to exposure to endocrine disruptors.
Webinar – Ambient Air Quality EU Directive: A public health need
21st November 2023
Salud por Derecho, Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Ecologistas en Acción, IS Global and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) organise a webinar entitled "Ambient Air Quality EU Directive: A public health need".
More...
Webinar (recordings): Reducing the urban burden of disease: from science to policy action
3rd November 2023
On #WorldCitiesDay 2023, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) held a special webinar on the latest evidence on how people’s health in cities is affected by air pollution, noise, lack of green space, climate change, and inequalities, and how policy makers can respond to these health threats. The recordings in English, German and Polish are now online.
Webinar: Reducing the urban burden of disease: from science to policy action
11th October 2023
On #WorldCitiesDay 2023, join the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) for a special webinar on the latest evidence on how people’s health in cities is affected by air pollution, noise, lack of green space, climate change, and inequalities, and how policy makers can respond to these health threats.
Webinar recording: Building Health Bridges for Clean Air
10th October 2023
On the occasion of the 2023 #WorldCleanAirDay, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and the Institute for Health and Environment Slovenia organised a virtual exchange on Building health bridges for clean air.
Webinar series recordings: The healthy and clean city of tomorrow
11th August 2023
In June 2023, HEAL organised a series of three webinars to put a spotlight on…
Webinar: Building Health Bridges for Clean Air
4th August 2023
The webinar series is open to health sector representatives, who want to build their knowledge on the relevant science, and anyone interested and working on the topics of healthy transport and healthy cities.
Closing event of the ÇİSİP project this Friday 2 June
31st May 2023
This Friday 2 June, the three-year EU-funded project ÇİSİP, which is implemented by HEAL, HASUDER…
