Some good news

Ozone levels last summer lowest in a decade

High concentrations of ozone in Europe were lower during the summer of 2007 than any other year in the past decade, according to the latest data unveiled by the European Environment Agency's technical report 'Air pollution by ozone across Europe during summer 2007'. In contrast to the same season in 2006, the threshold of 180 µg/m3 was not exceeded in northern Europe.

The highest one-hour ozone concentration of 479 µg/m3 was observed in Sicily, Italy, followed by 363 µg/m3 in Romania. France, Greece, Italy and Romania also reported high hourly ozone concentrations at least six times last summer.

Compared to the long-term objective of protecting human health (maximum ozone concentration of 120 µg/m3 over 8 hours), data for 2007 show that the thresholds set by the Directive 2002/3/EC were generally surpassed across Europe.

High concentrations of ozone in the air pose risks to health, by irritating breathing, reducing lung function and triggering asthma. Ground-level ozone is formed from pollutants emitted from vehicle exhausts and industrial production and is currently one of the air pollutants of most concern in Europe.

Full report here: Air pollution by ozone across Europe during summer 2007