Mayors of 20 European cities attack weak EU diesel pollution limits

[unhappycamper]

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/16/mayors-of-20-european-cities-attack-weak-eu-diesel-pollution-limits

Mayors from Paris, Madrid and Athens say loophole in NOx emissions tests puts citizens’ health at risk

Mayors of 20 European cities attack weak EU diesel pollution limits
Adam Vaughan
Wednesday 16 March 2016 07.39 EDT

The mayors of 20 European cities including Paris, Madrid and Athens have attacked the European Union for allowing a loophole in diesel cars’ pollution limits, just months after the VW emissions scandal.

MEPs in February failed to veto a proposal that watered down real world tests on limits for NOx pollution emitted by new diesel cars, a move which the mayors said was unfair and wrong, and stopped them from protecting citizens’ health.

In a letter published in Le Monde on Wednesday, the mayors write: “How can we protect the health of our fellow citizens when the European Union has rubber-stamped a permit to pollute, at the expense of public health?

“What can we say to parents whose children are suffering from acute respiratory disorders, or to elderly people and to the most vulnerable? Should we tell them that their government has prioritised the health of the automotive industry over their own?”