‘You know what’s scarier than coronavirus? Respiratory problems,’ Nationalist MP says

Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo made light of the hysteria associated with the current epidemic and said that respiratory problems that were resulting in premature deaths in Malta were far scarier than covid-19.

“You know what’s scarier than coronavirus? Premature deaths due to respiratory problems. The Maltese don’t fear where there is the certainty of premature mortality,” Vassallo said in parliament on Wednesday.

The PN MP criticised the Labour government’s relationship with the environment and Wasteserv’s announcement that it would take 400 acres of good agricultural land for the extension of a landfill.

“If we are worrying about the coronavirus, let’s also start worrying about the certainty of respiratory illnesses that are caused by the take-up of green land. No other administration took so much land with a single decision. I ask NGOs and all concerned to start worrying,” Vassallo said.

European studies last year concluded that 576 people in Malta die prematurely every year due to diseases brought on by airborne pollutants. The corresponding figures were 98 in the UK and 154 in Germany.

Vassallo insisted that the government should have invested in green spaces for families as opposed to extending a landfill that would mean that Malta would not be separating its rubbish for the next seven years.

“I ask why Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia fired the Wasteserv Chairman and the entire board of directors. Did they oppose this decision?” Vassallo said.

Agricultural land took another hit when the Central Link project, the infrastructural project that would create a four-lane thoroughfare in Attard, was approved by the Planning Authority last year, and is set to take 48,466sq.m of agricultural land. Works have already started despite an appeal being lodged.