Global and dangerous:
The incidence of allergies, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma is assuming ever more dramatic proportions and can now be viewed as the epidemic of the 21st century. By as early as 2010, the WHO is estimating that almost half the world's population will be suffering from allergies and, by 2020, COPD will become the third most frequent cause of death.
The causes of this are often unclear. Fine dust concentrations outdoors has quite rightly attracted much public criticism. However, the concentrations inside rooms and buildings are much more serious because this is where we spend most of our time.
The German ITG or "Interessensgemeinschaft Tonergeschädigter" [Association of People with Toner-Related Diseases], already has 900 people registered on its books with toner-related illness, but this is merely the tip of a very threatening iceberg indeed.
- The Deutsche Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin [German Federal Office for Health & Safety at Work] published an animal trials study and has confirmed publicly that toner and other fine dusts are carcinogenic.
- Diseases of the respiratory tract are now the world's third most frequent cause of death
- More than one third of all work-related diseases are due to pulmonary infection (lung disease)
- 7 percent of all hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from lung disease
- The dusty campaign: 3300 deaths in Switzerland, 5600 deaths in Austria, 65 000 deaths in Germany, 310 000 deaths throughout Europe (reference sources: WHO, Greenpeace, Global2000)
(reference sources: Bundesverband Deutschland e.V. "Tod vom Allerfeinsten" [Death From The Ultra-Fine], ITG in BBU e. V., EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH, Arguk Umweltlabor GmbH, Literaturstudie zu Vorkommen und gesundheitlicher Bedeutung von Feinstaub in Innenräumen [Literature study on the incidence and health implications of fine dust inside rooms and buildings]
