2nd edition
WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2000

The WHO air quality guidelines for Europe, published in 1987, provided a uniform basis for the development of strategies to control air pollution, and contributed to the maintenance and improvement of public health in several countries. The guidelines aim to provide a basis to protect public health from the adverse effects of air pollutants, and to eliminate, or reduce to a minimum, pollutants that are known or are likely to be hazardous to human health and well-being. In providing pollutant levels below which lifetime exposure or exposure for a given averaging time does not constitute a health risk, they form a basis for setting national standards for air pollution.

Since the publication of the first edition, new scientific data in the fields of air pollution, toxicology and epidemiology have emerged and new developments in risk assessment methodologies have taken place. The guidelines were therefore updated and revised with immense support from a large number of experts.

The book version of the second edition of Air quality guidelines for Europe is available from WHO sales agents as well as online. It comprises four introductory chapters plus sections on health risk evaluation and guidelines of the various pollutants.