Last Wednesday, EU policymakers revealed a draft law designed to fight air pollution. The new law would institute revised legal limits on how much each nation can emit of a list of major pollutants and would establish measures to ensure that member states comply with existing limits. The legislation would also put new restrictions on emissions from medium-sized power plants, which in the past have escaped the limits imposed on larger plants. The draft law comes at a time when, according to the European Commission and the European Environment Agency, air pollution plays a part in 400,000 premature deaths per year in Europe. EU lawmakers calculate that the proposed measure would reduce the annual death toll by 58,000 by 2030, and they claim that the health benefits of the new law could save society 40 billion euros per year. The air quality standards in the proposed law are still not as rigorous as those set by the World Health Organization, however, and environmental campaigners feel that the Commission should be doing more. For the full story, see http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/18/us-eu-air-idUKBRE9BH0DE20131218.