Meglio la fuliggine della Nutella

C’è un’evidente schizofrenia tra i polcymakers europei rispetto alle misure da prendere per la salute dei cittadini. Mentre si impongono norme severe sull’etichettatura dei prodotti alimentari, grazie alle quali la Ferrero dovrebbe mettere in guardia i consumatori dei rischi che corrono consumando Nutella, non si considera il nerofumo (la fuliggine, o “black carbon”) una priorità. Perché, nonostante faccia più vittime della malaria, il suo impatto sul clima sarebbe limitato, e non è il caso di distrarsi dal problema delle emissioni di CO2.

EU policymakers speaking in Brussels yesterday (22 June) cautioned that more research must be carried out to ascertain its impact more accurately.

“From the scientific point of view, it is not that certain yet,” said Frank Raes, head of the climate change unit at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).

However, he said black carbon was “likely” to contribute to climate change.

In addition to climate change, the health implications of particulate pollution make a compelling case for tackling black carbon, speakers agreed. Like other small particulates, it causes premature death and respiratory disease, they claimed.

Raes argued that the regional impacts of black carbon may be even more significant than its global warming effect. In the Arctic or the Himalayas, for instance, soot settling on ice and snow cover is accelerating melt rates, he said.

While CO2 remains the biggest global warming culprit, the advantage of tackling black carbon is that it is short-lived and can therefore have a beneficial impact on the climate only 5-10 years after its emissions are cut. (…)

“We should be careful not to reverse priorities,” said Niels Ladefoged, a member of Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard’s cabinet, suggesting that the EU was already dealing with the problem under its air quality legislation.

La storia è stata raccontata da Maurizio Morabito su Climate Monitor. Allo stesso modo si impongono limiti severi (se non divieti assoluti) alla coltivazione di varietà Ogm, dei quali non sono mai stati dimostrati effetti negativi né sulla salute né sull’ambiente, e si preferisce in alternativa continuare a sversare tonnellate di pesticidi sulle colture.