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Launched in Edinburgh on April 11 as part of an international conference, the first European Nitrogen Assessment(ENA) concludes that “Europe is being smothered in nitrogen,” Públicoreports. The presence of this chemical is “a genuine public health problem, which happens to be costing every European between 150 and 750 euros a year,” the Madrid daily adds. Agricultural fertilizers, transport and industrial activity are the main emission sources. Excessive reactive nitrogen, “which threatens ecosystems and biodiversity and alters the balance of greenhouse gas emissions,” is the big problem, emphasises Mark Sutton, director of the ENA. The measures implemented in 1999 following on the Gothenburg protocol to control these emissions, Público adds, have brought about a “modest reduction in nitrogen pollution in Europe from the 1980s.” However, that reduction remains “insufficient”, according to the ENA. The Madrid daily also cites an article in the journal Nature that concludes that excessive nitrogen and ammonia can “reduce life expectancy of at least half of all Europeans by six months.”
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