More than half of all Spaniards breathe polluted air: ecologists

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

MADRID (AFP) — More than half of all Spaniards breathe polluted air, causing thousands of premature deaths each year, according to a report released Wednesday by environmental group Ecologists in Action.

"At least 53 percent of all Spaniards breathe polluted air, which leads to the premature deaths of about 16,000 people per year," it said in a report called "Air Quality in the Spanish State in 2007".

The Spanish capital is the worst affected region, according to the group which measured air pollution by the standards of the World Health Organisation. According to the report, 80 percent of Madrid's residents breathe air that is too polluted.

The group blamed an overreliance on cars for the problem. About 80 percent of urban pollution is due to cars, it said....