Mr President, coupling the environment with health was demanded by Parliament on the basis of the orders set out in Articles 152 and 174 of the Treaty. May I remind you that in 1996, the formulation of public health protection as a separate aspect of the fifth programme on the environment and sustainable development being formulated at the time was my proposal and was accepted by all the institutions. Thus, for the first time, the European Union attempted to collect and disseminate widely information and knowledge on the repercussions of the state of the environment on human health. Today, the sixth environmental action programme includes this specific aspect, in other words environment, health and quality of life, while the first Community action programme in the public health sector, which we adopted in 2002 and for which I had the honour of acting as rapporteur, includes promoting the recording, analysis and evaluation of the determining factors of health which are linked to the environment. This knowledge will obviously result in the adoption and promotion of suitable strategies and measures to protect human health from the adverse effects of a deteriorating and dangerous environment. However, we must note that the penetration of the environmental aspect into health has been hesitant so far on the part of the Union and, consequently, the current proposal for an environment and health strategy cannot but be welcomed as a positive step, which expresses the will of the European Union to develop action in this sector, because the environmental dangers to health today are immense and require a modern, integrated approach. Emphasis must be placed on reducing the environmental dangers which have repercussions on human health or cause diseases, at huge economic and social cost. Of course, particular attention must also be paid to the most vulnerable groups of the population: children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with a serious medical history. The action programme proposes measures to improve the air quality in residential and work places, it proposes that studies be carried out in order to detect the hot spots of emissions and exposure to them, it calls for particular attention to be devoted to people living close to sources of pollution and for the stepping up of the policy of prevention, which focuses on stepping up monitoring of the environment for carcinogens and substances which damage the reproductive and nervous systems. Finally, it stresses the importance of education about environmental issues so that initiatives can be taken for raising public awareness and information. It is certain that, together with diet, the environment is a significant, determining health factor and, consequently, the Union strategy in this sector must include the constant collection and systematic monitoring of data which link environmental parameters with various diseases. Only by constantly developing scientific knowledge and research into the aspects of certain diseases with environmental parameters shall we be able to develop efficiently the Union strategy and action to protect human health. This strategy will allow the life expectancy of European citizens to be prolonged further.

Political group: PPE-DE