In Hungary, the first phase of the National Environmental Protection Programme (NEPP), reflecting the environmental policy, has already been accomplished. The pieces of legislation of environmental protection law approximation have been completed, and the establishment of an institutional system that is aligned to the EU requirements has also started. Objectives were implemented most successfully in the area of nature conservation and protection of clean air, while protection of waters and human health, as well as increase of environmental safety was slightly behind in performance. The second phase between 2003 and 2008 (NEPP-II) relies on the 6th Environmental Action Programme of the European Union, to be implemented until 2010. The health related tasks of NEPP-II are contained in the Environmental Health and Food Safety Action Programme.

Programmes launched from 2000 are expected to bring favourable results for the health status of the population, and to assist competitiveness with environment friendly measures. As a result of cleaner production, and environmentally aware technology and product development, the environmental load has reduced, which will probably lead to a reduction in health damaging effects as well. Development of the potable water supply, sewage collection and treatment, as well as waste management is required in the whole territory of the country.

Food safety

In Hungary, the safety of foodstuffs is of a high level and is regularly controlled. The Hungarian regulations on additives and chemical contaminants in foodstuffs are in harmony with the regulation prevailing in the developed countries. Health care has a very important role in monitoring, and establishment of limit values, as well as licensing procedures. In food hygiene regulations, control takes place within the framework of the HACCP system. In 2002, 2,959 people fell ill as a result of foodborne intoxication and poisoning (the corresponding figures were 3,952 in 1970, 4,395 in 1980 and 3,679 in 1990).

Air quality

At the start of the National Environmental Protection Programme (1997) approximately 13.2% of the territory of the country, where almost 50 per cent of the population live, had more or less polluted air. The main reasons of the pollution included public transport and district heating. The most important elements of air pollution include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
As a result of a decline in industrial production, air pollution caused by industry has also declined. Since 1999, no leaded petrol has been sold in Hungary, thus this hazardous environmental pollution source has been eliminated. With the reduction of the sulphur content of fuels and desulphurisation investments of power plants, the sulphur dioxide emission has also reduced significantly. The volume of nitrogen oxide emission from the exhaust gas of mainly internal combustion engines is increasing year by year, and the volume of nitrogen oxide released into the air from the heating systems of the population is also significant.

With the distribution of cars with catalysts the carbon monoxide content of the air has reduced significantly. The air pollution above the limit value of larger cities and settlements alongside main roads increases the risk of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and related mortality. The number of allergy, asthma and chronic respiratory diseases increases, and the incidence of lung cancer also grows. The number of registered hay-fever patients has increased ten times for the last ten years, while the number of asthma patients has trebled over the same period.

In view of the fact that road traffic is the key favour of air quality in settlements, environmentally friendly transport development has started involving the elaboration of a long-term strategy for transport infrastructure development.

Ragweed, producing pollen with a heavy allergenic effect, is an extremely large environmental health problem. The spread of ragweed has increased significantly by the fact that after the privatisation of arable lands the size of uncultivated land, owned by often unreachable owners, has increased enormously. In Hungary, ragweed exists on approximately 4 million hectares, while the size of areas heavily polluted with weeds is larger than 700,000 hectares. Subsidies and application opportunities offered to local governments and NGOs giving priority to non-chemical weed killing help to reduce the aeroallergens in air originating from uncultivated environment.

Water quality, sewage treatment

Almost the whole population is supplied with mains water. In 2002, mains water supply covered 99.9% of settlements and 93.0% of all homes. The potable water quality requirements are not fully satisfied in 1,300 settlements at the moment. However, in the majority of cases the water quality problems do not represent a health risk in the actual concentration ranges, they are only recorded as so-called aesthetic problems (for example, iron, manganese, ammonium and organic substance content). The presence of nitrite, nitrate, boron and fluoride in an amount higher than the limit value is an important public health problem in approximately 180 settlements (approximately 200,000 inhabitants).

In Hungary, the arsenic risk caused by potable water relates to 1.2 million people, of whom 20,000 are especially exposed to risks. Having cytotoxic, cancerogenic and mutagenic effect even if present only in traces, arsenic accumulates in the organisms of people drinking water with arsenic content during the years, causing significant damages. In Hungary, the arsenic content of potable water is especially high in Southeast Hungary and around Mecsek.

Approximately 80% of the population drink water with low iodine content, which leads to frequent cases of goitre.

Supply of healthy potable water is an objective of the national potable water quality improvement programme, launched in 2003.

The quality of Hungarian surface water is often criticised due to microbiological aspects. The reason for this is that sewage treatment in settlements is much below the quality of water supply. The self-purification capability of waters with a low water yield is significantly exceeded by the degree of pollution.
The measures introduced in order to improve the water quality of Lake Balaton have proved to be successful, through controlling temporary algae formation. It must be noted that for microbiological aspects Lake Balaton is not polluted and at the end of the 1990s first-class water quality was measured in the middle of the lake.
While there is almost comprehensive mains water supply, the proportion of homes connected to the sewage network was 56.0% in 2002, and 36.9% in villages. Although there has been significant development in communal sewage treatment, there are still a lot of tasks in building sewage pipes. The situation is most favourable in Budapest, where more than 90% of the homes have been connected to the sewage system since 1995. According to the plans, additional sewage management projects will be launched in large towns soon.

Urban environment, waste management

Transport, air pollution and noise problems, and inadequate technical conditions of the built environment, as well as lack of green surfaces causes any increasing problem in settlements. In 1998, a new statutory regulation entered into force, introducing restrictions in the noise emission of vehicles, and measures for increased protection against noise and vibration. Despite these efforts, the number of noise and vibration sources has increased, and the noise sensitivity of the population has also increased as a result of the increasing disturbance. Among the environment noise sources, road transport is the most disturbing factor. According to estimates, approximately 30-40% of the Hungarian population live in areas where the noise of transport is higher than allowed (over 60-65 dBA).
Each year, 300-450 kg/capita domestic and similar industrial commercial waste is generated in Hungary each year, most of which is currently deposited. Depositing the communal waste is one of the most urgent issues of the settlements at the moment. The regular solid waste collection network in settlements covered 86.5% of the population in 2001. At the moment, there are approximately 2,600 waste depositaries in the country. The proportion of land fills, satisfying environmental protection requirements, and operated professionally, represents only 28-30%.

Health and social institutions represent a special field in hazardous waste management. In this category, the extension of public utilities of the facilities is extremely difficult, and the lack of space makes it difficult to build additional hazardous waste storage capacities.

The most important objective of waste management regulated by law in Hungary is protection of human health. The elements of this strategy include prevention of waste generation and reduction of the volume of generated waste, promotion of waste utilisation, neutralisation of non-usable waste in line with environmental requirements, and rehabilitation of areas contaminated by waste.

Occupational health

In Hungary, the legal regulations concerning occupational health practically conform to the European Union requirements. The companies satisfy these requirements at various levels, but many companies have integrated the occupational health and safety management system into its management processes.
In Hungary, there has been a decrease in the number of notified accidents at work, occupational diseases and cases subject to increased exposition recently.