Members of the European Parliament have called for the tightening of proposed new controls on air-borne pollutants, after the parliament heard that 350,000 people die prematurely every year as a result of poisonous micro particles in the air.
Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle told the parliament last night that the European Commission's proposed directive on air quality did not go far enough to protect the health of vulnerable people such as the elderly and children.
She asked other MEPs to support tighter restrictions but allow national governments to phase them in over a longer period.
The European Commission proposal comes after a World Health Organisation report said pollution was associated with a wide range of health problems including asthma, allergies, low birth weight and impaired lung function .
Ms Doyle said air pollution was a problem affecting everyone, but especially those living in urban areas.
"The environment also suffers as a result of poor air quality, as the increasing loss of biodiversity across Europe and the world clearly demonstrates," she said. "Air pollution and climate change are not unique to any one country and they certainly do not respect borders and frontiers."
While she welcomed proposals to tackle the issue, she said she believed the limits proposed for emissions to the atmosphere could be lower. She proposed that tougher limits be included but a proposed 2010 deadline be moved back to 2015 "to allow a gradual transition".
"We must not be complacent and should be even more ambitions in protecting the health of European citizens. In this respect the proposed directive could certainly do more.
"It is estimated that even with effective implementation of current policies, the number of annual premature deaths as a result of air pollution will only be reduced to 270,000 from the current figure of 350,000."
Ms Doyle, who will lead the European Parliament delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Nairobi this November, said : "Not only is a common European approach needed, but we need to think in global terms."
Fianna Fáil MEP Liam Aylward said a new round of EU research and development funding for the period 2007 to 2013 must be geared heavily towards the promotion of biofuels.
"The advent of biofuels is good news for the agricultural sector in Ireland and in Europe and it is good news for the medium to long-term protection of our environment," he said.
He was fully supportive of the proposed directive as it stands.
Members will vote on the issue today.