[Estimating mortality attribuable to PM10 particles in 9 French cities participating in the European programme...

The relationship between air pollution and mortality is now admissible with a sufficiently high level of causality proven. This link allows for health impact assessment to be carried out with a significant degree of accuracy, such as the case for the results which are presented here from the nine French cities involved in the Apheis programme. This health impact assessment is based on the methodology developed by the World Health Organization. The number of avoidable deaths is contained between categories ranging from 2.0 to 4.3, 4.0 to 8.9, and from 15.0 to 31.5 per 100,000 inhabitants according to very short term effects, short term effects and long term effects, respectively. There are two scenarios which can be envisioned for the reduction of fine particles levels which are capable of obtaining similar results for both very short term and short term effects. The first involves diminishing the daily concentrations which are above 20 microg/m3 until they reach this value, and the second entails systematically decreasing the daily levels by 5 microg/m3. The first strategy of reducing values to stabilize at 20 microg/m3 has been shown to be the one most favourable and promising for the long term effects. This strategy therefore confirms the reliability and strength of the recommendation formulated at the national level.