AntwerpResidents of the city of Antwerp and a number of action groups are today filing a complaint with the public prosecutor against the city council and the Flemish government. They would make too little effort to tackle the harmful effects of air pollution and thus also keep COVID patients on ventilators for longer.
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The ‘Right to Air’ group believes that the Antwerp city council and the Flemish government are directly responsible for the health impact of poor air quality in the city. In addition to conditions such as asthma and acute respiratory infections, air pollution was also responsible for a heavier toll during the corona pandemic, according to the action group. For example, a Harvard study showed that COVID-19 is more deadly in areas with more air pollution. A number of Flemish research institutes have decided that those who live in a place with more soot in the air are usually on a ventilator for longer.
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Negligent
According to co-initiator Tom Cox, governments would rather pay fines for not meeting European air quality standards than actually do something about it. “People know very well what measures are needed, but they prefer to pay fines with our tax money. That is guilty negligence.”
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The submitters refer, among other things, to the ‘Action plan for particulate matter and NO2 in the port of Antwerp and the city of Antwerp 2014-2018’. It states that ‘priority measures will be taken for bottleneck locations, in particular with regard to adapting the circulation’. Cox believes that this is not the case: “In practice, none of the bottleneck locations has been adapted to the circulation.”
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The introduction of the low-emission zone in 2017 had only a limited impact, the activists say. “We expect more ambition from the city to protect and improve the health of Antwerp residents. The LEZ should not be an excuse to do nothing further.”
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