Brussels, 16/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission on Wednesday presented a proposed directive aimed at minimising the presence of heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, mercury and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the air as much as possible. "This directive is the last building block of the full overhaul of our air quality legislation, which started with the Air Quality Framework Directive in 1996", said Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström in a press release, adding that "it will lead to concrete health benefits for citizens by obliging authorities across Europe to curb pollution. We are talking here about cancer and other serious health damage". Ms Wallström also stated that "this is the first time that the Community has tackled air pollution from heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We are proposing more systematic monitoring of these health hazards, allowing Member States to take measures to minimise them". EUROPE will come back on this proposal.