Paris (AFP)
Despite the improvement in air quality, 40,000 deaths per year are still attributable to exposure to fine particles, according to Public Health France which calls for not being satisfied with a slight improvement in the toll of victims of this pollution.
On the contrary, we must "continue, or even strengthen efforts to reduce this burden", argues Sébastien Denys, an official of the agency, who underlines the significant impact on health of a drop in pollution, even in the short term. .
Proof of this is the impact of the first containment in spring 2020 which prevented more than 2,000 deaths linked to air pollution, according to figures released on Wednesday.
In 2016, Santé Publique France, based on the period 2007-2008, estimated at 48,000 the number of premature deaths per year linked to the concentrations of fine particles PM2.5 (less than 2.5 microns), microscopic matter in suspension in air that enters the branches of the respiratory tract and into the blood.
The new estimate suggests "a downward trend": nearly 40,000 deaths per year attributable to PM2.5 between 2016 and 2019, or 7% of total mortality over this period, against 9% in 2007-2008.
"We can be satisfied with the slight decrease. But from a public health point of view, what worries us is an estimate of 40,000 preventable deaths. And I insist on this preventable term: actions are possible to reduce this impact, ”emphasizes Sébastien Denys.
The annual number of deaths attributed to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), calculated for the first time, is 7,000.
But we cannot add these deaths in full to those linked to PM2.5, insists the public health agency, an undetermined part of the deaths being linked to the joint action of the two pollutants.
The decrease in the health impact since the 2016 study is explained by different exposure models but also by the improvement in air quality.
- "Lessons" to be learned -
Thus, according to the 2019 report, PM2.5 emissions fell by 61% between 2000 and 2019 and those of nitrogen oxides by 56%, even if the State was condemned in court for not having reduced sufficiently. certain pollutants in certain cities.
Pollution also largely decreased during the first confinement of 2020 imposed to fight the Covid-19 epidemic, especially in urban areas.
This improvement was particularly noticeable for NO2, mainly linked to road traffic, at a standstill, but less for PM2.5 also from other sources (agricultural spraying, heating, etc.). avoid 2,300 deaths linked to exposure to fine particles, which are more harmful, and 1,200 deaths linked to nitrogen dioxide (the figures cannot be added together).
"Obviously, we do not recommend the implementation of such drastic conditions", notes Sébatien Denys.
But this allows certain "lessons" to be drawn in terms of public actions, such as reducing road traffic in urban areas or industrial emissions, insists Public Health France.
As well as in terms of behavioral changes, such as telecommuting.
Other avenues must also be pursued, in particular "improving wood-burning practices", on which the government is preparing to adopt an "action plan", and the development of good agricultural practices, notes l 'agency.
Sectors that had continued to emit even during confinement.
The new estimates from Santé Publique France fall far short of other international research.
For example, a study published in February in Environmental Research estimated that fine particle pollution caused by the combustion of fossil fuels was responsible for one in five deaths worldwide, or more than 8 million deaths in 2018, including nearly 100,000 in France.
Differences linked to methodological differences and more precise data on France, explains Santé Publique France.
And in all cases, it is about "several thousand deaths", which proves a "burden linked to atmospheric pollution" very important ", answers Sébastien Denys.
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