OpenLobby.EU
Explore

Associazione Medici per l’Ambiente – ISDE Italia Onlus

ISDE Italy

The Association ( ISDE) pursues exclusively social solidarity goals and intends to work in the social and health sectors and, more generally, in life sciences and conservation / environmental protection, carrying out scientific activities and "decision support", drawing on scientific evidence through training, communication and research initiatives.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Cristina Guarda (Member of the European Parliament)

28 Jan 2026 · PFAS

Response to Ecodesign requirements for cooking appliances (review)

26 May 2023

The gas stoves being one of the main indoor sources of health harming pollutants, most notably nitrogen dioxide (NO2), this process represents an opportunity to further protect and improve the health of European citizens by setting a clear path to phasing out gas stoves. An analysis by the research organization TNO, summarized in the CLASP and EPHA report Exposing the Health Impacts of Cooking with Gas, estimates that 12% of the current paediatric asthma cases in the EU (over 700,000 children) could be avoided if gas cookers were removed. The same study found that kitchens in the EU are projected to experience air pollution levels that would exceed the World Health Organisations (WHO) 2021 Air Quality Guidelines and the EUs Ambient Air Quality Directive limit values multiple times per week, every week. Ongoing data collection efforts are confirming the results of the initial study. While gas stoves lead to an increase in exposure to NO2 for all households that use them, certain population groups are more vulnerable and suffer more severe impacts from exposure to air pollution. Studies confirm this higher vulnerability of children, linked to higher rates of breathing, narrower airways and still developing respiratory and immune systems. Children living in households that cook with gas have a 32% increased likelihood of having current and lifetime asthma. Additionally, even short-term exposure to increased levels of NO2 is dangerous for people living with respiratory diseases, as it may lead to respiratory problems such as coughing, wheezing or difficulty breathing, and even to hospital admissions. Exposure to pollutants from cooking with gas is also a matter of health equity. Marginalised groups are likely to live in smaller and more poorly ventilated houses, while people with pre-existing chronic diseases may be more likely to spend longer periods of time indoors, thus being at risk of breathing in higher concentrations of pollutants from indoor sources. Additionally, there is an increasing body of literature supporting the argument that there is no safe level of air pollution. For example, the ELAPSE study found no evidence of concentrations below which no associations were found between natural-cause mortality and NO2. In fact, the statistical danger hazard ratios remained elevated and significant when analyses were restricted to observations below 20 μg/m3, which is below the WHO daily limit value. The case for prioritising tackling sources of air pollution, in line with the EUs Zero Pollution action Plan to 2050, has never been clearer. Finally, the climate impact of cooking with gas should not be overlooked. The significant potential CO2 savings and the concerns regarding methane leaks underscore the underscore the opportunity for climate and health co-benefits from phasing out gas stoves. Moreover, the climate crisis is a health crisis; Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, emphasised during the latest World Health Assembly that the most pressing reasons for urgent climate action are the impacts not in the future, but right now, on health. The EU should take urgent action to phase out fossil fuels and fossil fuel-powered appliances from European homes. Despite existing evidence of climate and health impacts, current European policies do not protect people from the dangers of gas cooking. Eco-design represents an immediate opportunity to set strict nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emission limits for appliances and phase out the sale of gas cooking appliances, addressing pollution directly at the source.
Read full response

Response to 8th Environment Action Programme

28 Dec 2020

ISDE Italy considers essential for the 8EAP’s success that it provides a foundation to: 1. Hold Member States accountable for the continuity of the EU Green Deal’s objectives in legislation beyond 2024 The 7EAP finishes in 2020 and committed the EU co-legislators to a coherent and comprehensive long-term vision until 2050 on climate, health and environmental actions. It enabled the assessment of the European Commission’s performance in steering the delivery of EU commitments in the fields of sustainability: the evaluation concluded that “its 2050 vision and priority objectives are still valid” but “that progress related to nature protection, health and policy integration was not sufficient.” While implementation and enforcement of EU environmental and climate legislation heavily depend on political will at national level, the European Green Deal Communication (EGD) only commits the current 2019-2024 EU Commission. To achieve the transformational, systemic change needed to address the magnitude of the challenges we are facing today, the 8EAP must provide the foundations for a successor of the EGD which leads us closer to SDG 2030 goals. The 8EAP will also provide a further incentive for Member States to act on environmental pollution and climate, where political commitment in the past has often been insufficient (e.g. exceedance of EU clean air standards). Building on the 7EAP vision and the EDG objectives, the 8EAP – “General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030” – will commit both the EU Member States and Parliament, thereby providing for policy coherence and continuity in the field of environmental health beyond the mandate of the current EU Commission. The 8EAP will succeed if it helps amplify synergies of policy action in line with the EGD at every governance level in the EU and also helps accelerate the implementation and enforcement path. 2. Check that budgetary priorities are aligned with the zero pollution ambition for a toxic free environment This starts with ensuring adequate financial means to implement policies stemming from EU’s zero pollution ambition – such as from the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability published in 2020 or from the Zero Pollution Action Plan expected in 2021 – or the Farm to Fork Strategy. The 8EAP could monitor and report back to citizens if adequate funding at EU, national and local level is available to deliver on the tasks stemming from the EGD. With the growing importance of impacts of the urban environments on health, the 8EAP should support city-level action. 3. Ensure timely monitoring, transparency and follow up of data on impacts of the environment on health The draft 8EAP proposes how the programme is to be monitored and how communication on the results of that monitoring should be done. Full transparency of scientific data, inclusion of citizen science, timely (as close as possible to real time) universal accessibility of the data and high-level political follow-up are essential for effective public participation, implementation and enforcement of EU’s environmental and climate legislation. In particular, direct and indirect health costs of environmental pollution and the cost of policy inaction should be part of the 8EAP indicators, as well as spotlighting increasing environmental health inequalities.
Read full response