European environmental priorities: Eliminate Asbestos Related Disease by 2015

Air pollution, climate change and chemicals pose key environmental risks to people’s health that require political action in the European Region, according to members of the European Environment and Health Ministerial Board (EHMB). EHMB held its fifth meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania on 1 July 2014.

EHMB members committed themselves to taking concrete action in the near future to address these priority issues. EHMB will:

• place the elimination of diseases from asbestos exposure and the implementation of the new Minamata Convention on Mercury at the core of negotiations with European countries, in line with European Member States’ commitment in 2010 to eliminate asbestos-related diseases by 2015;
• support the adoption of a global resolution on air quality, initiated by France, Norway and other countries, in 2015; and
• contribute to the WHO Conference on Health and Climate (to be held in August 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland) and the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (to be held in 2015in Paris, France).

Members of the EHMB consider that working with the European Union (EU) and its agencies is of high strategic importance to perform these tasks. In particular, they agreed to establish solid collaboration with the European Commission, the new European Parliament and the countries holding the EU presidency in 2015–2017. In addition, they laid out a plan of action to strengthen links between multilateral environmental agreements relevant to the implementation of the commitments made at the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in Parma, Italy in 2010.

Plans for the Sixth Conference are being developed. EHMB provided guidance in identifying the main themes – air pollution, climate change and chemicals – while the European Environment and Health Task Force (EHTF) will engage with all 53 countries in the WHO European Region to align priorities, develop targets and reach an agreement on the desired outcomes.

A mid-term review will assess countries’ progress between the 2010 Conference in, and the next in 2016. The review will take place on 10–13 November 2014 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

At the meeting in Vilnius, four new members of the EHMB – the health ministers of Croatia, Georgia, Lithuania and Spain – assumed their seats, following their election by the WHO Regional Committee for Europe. Dr Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, Minister of Health of Lithuania, and Mr Amir Peretz, Minister of Environmental Protection of Israel, were elected co-chairs. Croatia and Ukraine each offered to host a meeting to support the European environment and health process in 2015 and 2016.

EHMB’s sixth meeting will take place in February 2015 in Madrid, Spain.

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EU Restricts US Airport Scanners As Health Hazard

The European Commission has adopted today a proposal for an European Union legal framework on security scanners. This legislation allows airports and Member States that wish to use security scanners for the screening of passengers to do so under strict operational and technical conditions.

Member States have been trialling or testing security scanners, since a terrorist attempted on 25 December 2009 to blow up a plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit with plastic explosives he had hidden in his underwear. Until now the use of security scanners has been done under a patchwork of different national operational procedures and standards and in a limited way. As a common EU-wide framework, the new legislation legally allows Member States and airports to replace current security systems with security scanners. It also ensures the uniform application of security rules at all airports and provides strict and mandatory safeguards to ensure compliance with fundamental rights and the protection of health.

Member States and airports do not have an obligation to deploy security scanners, but if they decide to use them, they will have to comply with the operational conditions and performance standards set at European level.

Vice-President Siim Kallas, Commissioner responsible for transport, said: "Security scanners are not a panacea but they do offer a real possibility to reinforce passenger security. Security scanners are a valuable alternative to existing screening methods and are very efficient in detecting both metallic and non-metallic objects. It is still for each Member State or airport to decide whether or not to deploy security scanners, but these new rules ensure that where this new technology is used it will be covered by EU wide standards on detection capability as well as strict safeguards to protect health and fundamental rights. Experience to date shows that passengers and staff generally see security scanners as a convenient method of screening."

Security scanners are an effective method of screening passengers as they are capable of detecting both metallic and non-metallic items carried on a person. The scanner technology is developing rapidly and has the potential to significantly reduce the need for manual searches ("pat-downs") applied to passengers, crews and airport staff.

Under the new EU legislation the use of security scanners is only allowed in accordance with minimum conditions such as for example that: security scanners shall not store, retain, copy, print or retrieve images; any unauthorized access and use of the image is prohibited and shall be prevented; the human reviewer analyzing the image shall be in a separate location and the image shall not be linked to the screened person and others. Passengers must be informed about conditions under which the security scanner control takes place. In addition, passengers are given the right to opt out from a control with scanners and be subject to an alternative method of screening.

By laying down specific operational conditions and by providing passengers with the possibility of opting out, the legislation safeguards fundamental rights and the principles recognized in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

In order not to risk jeopardizing citizens' health and safety, only security scanners which do not use X-ray technology are added to the list of authorized methods for passenger screening at EU airports. All other technologies, such as that used for mobiles phones and others, can be used provided that they comply with EU security standards.

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