Every breath is life.

But how good the air we breathe is, we can usually only decide with our nose.

The thick air that some people in Frankfurt think they smell is much better than it was in the past, says David Groneberg, director of the Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine at Goethe University.

Monika Ganster

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Which is astonishing in view of the particulate matter pollution in the busy streets of the city, but only indicates that the air quality was not automatically better in the past.

In the last few decades, industrial plants have been fitted with filters, motor vehicles use less fuel and thus emit fewer pollutants, apartments are only rarely heated with open chimneys because there are more environmentally friendly alternatives.

And yet the air we breathe still contains too much sulfur dioxide - a waste product from burning fossil fuels -, nitrogen dioxide from internal combustion engines, as well as coarse and fine dust.

High levels of particulate matter shorten life

David Groneberg, expert on clean and unclean air, will share his knowledge on Thursday in the “Health Forum” series, which the Frankfurt University Hospital will present together with the FAZ, in order to make research findings accessible to a broad audience.

It will also be about fine dust, the effects of which are a constant topic in a city like Frankfurt.

Numerous epidemiological studies have shown that high levels of particulate matter shorten life, says industrial doctor Groneberg.

However, this is only a statistical quantity.

There is neither a “fine dust patient” nor such a disease.

Only a large number of factors lead to someone becoming ill.

And these complications are very real.

David Groneberg will speak on Thursday, November 25th at 6.30 p.m. about the air quality in Frankfurt, about air pollutants and their effects on the lungs.

After his online presentation, questions can be asked in the chat.

Www.gesundheitsforum-ukf.de provides information on this and other events in the series.