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FOE says UK will fail to meet 7 out of 9 targets on health and the environment

8 July 1996

On the day that the Government publishes its long-awaited National Environmental Health Action Plan, new research commissioned by Friends of the Earth from the South East Institute for Public Health shows that the UK is highly unlikely to meet 7 out of 9 internationally agreed targets on health and the environment.

In 1984, the UK signed up to meeting 9 World Health Organisation targets on health and the environment by the year 2000. This new research shows that although some progress has been made in many areas, overall the UK will not meet the majority of targets by this time [1]. In key areas such as food safety, air quality and housing, major problems remain which affect large sections of the population.

The Government's plans to tackle the environment and health problems which affect us are to be set out in their Environmental Health Action Plan,published today. An earlier public consultation draft of this document received over 200 written responses, and was widely criticised for putting forward very few positive proposals to deal with the many problems.

Charles Secrett, Director of Friends of the Earth, said:

"Too many people in Britain are suffering from ill-health because of environmental problems. We are failing to meet most of our international commitments on health and the environment. The Government must take practical measures to deal with these issues now.

The UK hosts the Third European Conference on Environment and Health in London in 1999: we should be showing that we can lead the way with action as well as words."

For comment on the Environmental Health Action Plan, contact Simon Bullock in FOE's Sustainable Development Research Unit.

The action plan will be a topic discussed at this Friday's conference on Environment and Health, organised by FOE and the Association of General Practice in Urban Deprived Areas [2].

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] Summary of research by the South East Institute of Public Health:

SUMMARY TABLE
WHO Target	Subject	Will Target be met?	Comment
11	Accidents	Unlikely	Road accident fatalities continue to fall. However there are concerns that progress on this target is at the expense of progress towards others, such as T1, 7, 9, 24. Total numbers of injuries remains roughly constant.
18	Multi-sectoral Policies	target too non- specific to assess	Some progress can be identified but health issues are not adequately integrated into most development and planning processes.
19	Monitoring and Control mechanisms	target too non- specific to assess	There are many comprehensive monitoring programmes in place, however there are several problem areas, one of which is air quality monitoring
20	Water Quality	Unlikely	Levels of some pollutants have fallen. Significant problems remain for lead, organic pollutants and inland bathing waters.
21	Air Quality	Highly unlikely	Air quality regularly exceeds WHO and DoE guidelines for PM10s, SO2, NO2 and ozone. Radon in homes is an unresolved problem.
22	Food Quality and Safety	Highly unlikely	Microbiological food-borne disease is increasing. There is insufficient monitoring for pesticides in food. Issues such as BSE/CJD are unresolved.
23	Waste Management and Soil Pollution	Highly unlikely	Hazardous waste imports are increasing. Disposal of wastes causes significant problems. There is a large legacy of previously deposited wastes and contamination which is not being dealt with.
24	Human Ecology and Settlements	Highly unlikely	There are significant problems with housing stock, derelict land,inadequate recreational space, and impacts of transport policy.
25	Health of people at work	Highly unlikely	There is progress on occupational injuries, but not on respiratory diseases. Data sets are weak in this area.

[2] FOE is holding a conference with the Association of General Practice in Urban Deprived Areas, on Health, Wellbeing and the Urban Environment, at the Church House Conference Centre, Dean's Yard,Westminster, on Friday the 12th of July.

It aims to find ways for policy makers, health professionals and environmentalists to work together to help solve environmental health problems. For further details contact Joanna Watson on 020 7566 1612.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust

Last modified: Sep 2008