DUTCH HAVE MOST POLLUTED AIR IN THE WORLD

After research it turns out that the Dutch have the most polluted air in the world. Other hot spots are the north of Italy , the east coast of the United States and the east coast of China . The surplus of nitrogen oxide is mainly caused by cars and trucks driving on diesel and a high level of industrialisation in the region. It is the first time that the pollution is observable from space thanks to the European environmental satellite Envisat that was launched two years ago.

Through European legislation the emissions of nitrogen oxide is decreasing for years already. In between 1990 and 2002 the emission in The Netherlands decreased with 30%. Since the gas causes serious damage to the lungs the EU enforced stricter norms for pollution in and around residential areas.

The Netherlands is one of the few states that is in danger not being able to reach the new norms. A Dutch environmental bureau calculated that the quality of the air will not be sufficient for a group between 1.500 and 90.000 people, especially living near highways. The Netherlands has the most kilometres of highway in Europe .

The problem can be reduced by traffic restricting measures. For example the introduction of a maximum speed. Although this is quite successful on a local scale the Dutch government is not really introducing traffic restricting measures on a larger scale. On the contrary: there are plans for hundreds of extra kilometres of asphalt and there are no concrete measures that fight the pollution along highways and around cities.

The European environmental Ministers decided that all diesel cars and -trucks need to have a carbon filter in a few years. On the 1 of January 2005 the new European norms for nitrogen oxide will be introduced. The norms are actually quite flexible. Only on the 1 of January 2009 the carbon filters for cars will be obliged. The highest government board in The Netherlands decided to block the plans of the Ministry of traffic to build more highways. Being the most densely populated region in Europe it is the question if the new European measures will really help. Since many years the length of Dutch traffic jams is seriously increasing. On some days even exceeding 1000 kilometres in one morning. more features

October18, 2004