Text box 4.1
The early story of pollution control in Denmark (the pre-1960 period)

4.1 Initial recognition of health and environmental problems (1960-1972)

Up through the last century, pollution from industry and private households increased dramatically. From 1960 and onwards, industry and mass production became part of everyday life; provided better material conditions for the Danish people and the standard of living improved. Items like private lavatories, a fridge, own car and a central heating system in the house soon became part of many people’s daily life.

People were not used to consider environmental effects in relation to their private consumption and their desire for an increased standard of living appeared to overrule anything else. It was the general understanding that the new standard of living of the 1960s could not be questioned⁴⁸. 

The environmental consequences started to show up in the form of increased pollution of the lakes and the sea, a high level of noise and air pollution from e.g. the heating systems, the different means of transportation, and also a significant increase in the amount of waste disposal.

The improvements in the standard of living was the heavy increase in pollution, which the Danish legislative system at that time was not prepared for at all, as regulation in environmental areas rested on health regulations initiated in 1858.

Internationally, this period saw the publication of what later has been termed the first modern publication on environmental problems namely Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962; a book written to alert the public and stir people to action against the abuse of chemical pesticides. The book was read with interest, also in Denmark.

4.1.1 Waste disposal

The increase in standard of living at that time entailed a more widespread use of e.g. chemicals and petrol and an increase in the complexity in waste disposal.

The first problem was dealt with in various ways. Some of the fluid waste was lead into the sea, because the waste then would be absorbed in the large amounts of water. Other initiatives were to burn of the fluid waste. However, none of the initiatives seemed to be an acceptable solution in the long run and in 1971 the municipalities agreed jointly to start up a plant in Nyborg, with primary purpose of regaining or incinerating the different types of chemicals. The plant called "Kommunekemi" and located in central Denmark is still the largest receptor in Denmark of chemical waste and it is only through the last decade that competing receptors have entered the market.

At the same time plastic and paper had become a significant part of the waste disposal and therefore it was not only the amount of waste disposal but also the complexity that gave rise to concern. The most appropriate solution (at the time) was found in burning of the waste. Therefore two refuse disposal plants were build in Ejby and Amager (suburbs to Copenhagen), which in 1970 were ready to eliminate waste from the Copenhagen area.

4.1.2 Wastewater

Pollution caused by wastewater resulted in a considerable inconvenience for the public health in Denmark in the form of e.g. reduction in bathing water facilities due to pollution of coastal areas and fresh water pollution. But concern was also raised as to the more direct health effects. A study initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and published in 1966 stated that discharges in built-up areas entailed high risks of infectious agents, which could lead to paratyphoid fever, mouse typhus, polio and jaundice. The highest risk was connected to discharge from hospitals, incinerating plants and slaughter-houses⁴⁹.

Regulation of discharge and freshwater resources was legally placed in the Ministry of Agriculture, which many people saw as a contradictory situation since farmers were contributors to pollution of lakes, streams etc. In 1949 a new law for wastewater was effectuated. It provided the municipalities with an obligation to push charges on polluters of freshwater areas if the pollution led to depreciation of the public health.

In 1963 the law was no longer sufficient. The pollution of the freshwater with large amounts of infectious matters and a growing discharge of chemicals had now reached a stage that was not acceptable. A new law was implemented in 1968. It deviated from the prior law as it included issues concerning the freshwater areas, the sea and the drinking waters supplies.

Already in 1967, the Minister of Agriculture argued that "one has to make a serious effort against discharge contamination by protecting lakes, water streams and beaches from discharge pollution to such an extent that those important parts of our surroundings can be preserved as a common good and be passed on to our descendants in a decent condition" ⁵⁰. Unfortunately, the good intentions were not followed by actions.

By 1970, one third of all wastewater was lead into the environment without any kind of purifying. More than 2,000 wastewater treatment plants existed at the time from which 1,500 were only mechanical systems and 500 also included biological treatment of the wastewater.

4.1.3 The environmental movement

In the mid-1960s, the number of complaints about pollution and the lack of governmental commitment increased. The Danish newspapers started different campaigns to harass the local politicians and the general awareness increased of the consequences of the pollution. One issue for the papers was the visual pollution i.e. smog, pollution of the bathing water at the seaside resorts etc.

The only environmental grassroots at that time was the Danish Conservation Society, who advocated for the recreational effects: "Pollution of our lakes and seas have an influence on all of us. As they become dangerous to our health, they become unsuitable as re-creative areas" (Mikkelsen, DN, 1965; p.8). Thus, environmental conservation was necessary for the people due to public re-creative interests.

From the late 1960s, the political left wing in Denmark had success with their societal criticism in which they defined environmental issues to be an integrated issue. In 1969, a group of political leftwing students started the grassroots movement NOAH. Their conceptualisation of the environmental problems focused on "pollution as a central problem simply because it threatened the survival of humanity"⁵¹. Therefore they argued that pollution should be prevented in all cases. Because NOAH was organised mainly among students within natural science, the organisation had an in depth knowledge of the environmental effects of pollution. They set their own standards and were not satisfied with the national nor the international efforts.

4.1.4 The political initiatives

In the attempt to avoid health-depreciating conditions for the Danish citizens, various initiatives were established. Some of the major initiatives are presented here. They can all be seen as political steps that eventually would lead to the establishment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Health Commissions

Health Commissions were established at municipal level and they were closely connected to the municipalities. The commissions were responsible for individual health and safety permits to companies, stores and production plants in its regulatory area. Their authority thus included health conditions in small shops as well as production permits for large international oil companies. The authority of the commissions was rather extensive, which unfortunately did not correspond with their competence and insight to the environmental effect of chemicals, special types of products, and in general handling of the new type of pollution. The establishment of the commissions was seen as an important political step, but the actual effect was difficult to detect since the commissions often had to rely on what was called a sound judgement simply because of lacking expertise in the commissions.

Another problem was that the structure of the commissions made it difficult to effectuate regulatory progress, especially across the borders of the single municipalities. An example was Øresund; the sound between Denmark and Sweden. Many municipalities were draining all wastewater into Øresund and one by one the swim facilities closed along the coast. Since no single actor could be held responsible, nothing was actually done to prevent the enormous pollution, besides an establishment of a commission. This commission was organised in 1957 to evaluate optional ways to reduce pollution from drains into the sea and in 1964 no results had been presented and no following up had been initiated despite a very emotional debate about the recreational effects of the pollution (Jensen: 1996; p.197).

Hygiene Commissions

In an acknowledgement of the missing results from the Health Commissions in 1964, a new type of commission was established, the Hygiene Commission. Unlike the Health Commissions this commission consisted of high level civil servants from every relevant ministry, national board or directorate of the Danish government.

One of the main purposes of the new commission was to supervise de-central Health Commissions and to bring forward new ideas to avoid further environmental and health deterioration.

Another mission for the new commission was to co-ordinate existing rules in the areas of water supply and the re-creative aspects of water such as lakes, sea, water streams etc. But their mission was also to set up propositions for new methods to overcome the growing pollution. In 1970, the commission presented a thorough report in which propositions for the future work of the Health Commissions were dealt with. The report uncovered aspects crucial to the understanding of later initiatives in the health area. They were the following:⁵²

	The report assessed that regulations concerning health deviated significantly among the municipalities. This made them difficult to administrate and difficult for the citizens to understand the current status.
	There lacked a precise definition of the terms health and danger for health also at the central governmental level, and this made it difficult to perform concise regulation within this field.
	The report noted that the close interconnection between the Health Commissions and the municipalities made it almost impossible to take national initiatives or to start up activities across a couple of municipalities.
	Finally, the set-up of the Health Commissions often resulted in situations where the local mayor had one priority of the use of existing resources in the municipality, a priority which often deviated from the one of the local Health Commission.

A reform took place in 1970 in the municipal set-up, whereby small municipalities merged and the municipal level of authority was subsequently increasing its governmental impact especially in the field of health and pollution oriented aspects. The changes not only concerned the municipalities as also the County level gained more influence. As a consequence, the Hygiene Commission presented a regulatory set-up, entailing that the Counties should establish individual Hygiene Commissions to secure co-ordination within their jurisdiction. They should also provide counselling to their Health Commissions at the municipal level.

The national Hygiene Commission was becoming too large and unable to get the necessary work done and moreover not able to change their traditional way of thinking. As a way to overcome the inefficiency, a new group was established in 1969, the Provisional Pollution Council - an initiative, which in the longer run lead to the abolition of the Hygiene Commission.

Provisional Pollution Council

The council was the first step towards a Ministry of Environmental Protection. It was rather radical in its approach in comparison to the prior initiatives. In 1971 the Provisional Pollution Council presented a working paper where the ineffectiveness that bureaucratic organisation historically had led to in respect to environmental and health-oriented issues was the main focus. The council advocated for an integration of the various initiatives and presented a structure, which more or less characterised the governmental structure, as we know it today in this area.

At this point in time, there was also an important external influence from international initiatives and efforts made in other countries. The United Nations held the first environmental conference in Stockholm in 1972. It received a lot of public awareness and contributed to establishment of national environmental ministries in most of the West-European countries.

Moreover, the so-called Rome club published the radical "Limits to growth" report. The authors set up a model to measure the remaining natural resources left in the world and argued for a highly restricted use of these resources. This way to present the environmental conditions caught the attention of a much larger part of the society. Suddenly environmental concern was no longer just an issue for the most critical and intellectual part of the population.

4.1.5 The dominant environmental understanding

In the beginning of this period, nature was primarily seen as a common free good for everyone to exploit. Many people and companies did. Waste, discharge and chemicals were let into the natural environment, and the Danish people were keen to protect the material progress they had achieved.

On the other hand, effects on the health conditions managed to become a prevailing issue. Complaints about pollution appeared daily in the news, and the environmental problems were no longer just accepted and interpreted to be an unavoidable effect of industrialised society. Instead the authorities and the polluting actors were held responsible for the pollution.

The Hygiene Commission presented in their report in 1970 the first example of an environmental understanding as the one that we have today, but it was never implemented due to the replacement of the commission by the Provisional Pollution Council.

In the beginning of the 1970s, the growing awareness of the effects from pollution and the growing intensity in the debate made it clear that pollution was an area, which would gain a central role in the political field.

To sum up, from 1960 and onwards, pollution became an every day issue in Denmark. A growing number of citizens felt an actual threat towards their health and they expected the government and local authorities to take action. This response to pollution illustrates the structural set-up in Denmark, where the governmental authorities play a central role in people's mind and turned upon when response to public concern is required.

4.2 Implementation of comprehensive environmental regulation (1973-1991)

During 1973-1991, the efforts required within the environmental sphere were being effectuated to some extent. The first Danish Environmental Protection Act was to prove its value, and environmental authorities had to step into focus to avoid further exploitation of the environment. Since the late 1980s, the concept of sustainability became an important guideline for the design of environmental policy. It implied an interest in preparing comprehensive action plans just as the idea of sector integration of environmental concern was highlighted.

4.2.1 The regulatory set-up

The Ministry of Environmental Protection was established. It was organised in line with the propositions made by the Provisional Pollution Council, and the new Minister was the former leader of the Council. Shortly after the rise of the new ministry it was decided to end the council's activities. However, there was still a need for a more action-oriented authority to supervise and co-ordinate the regulatory activities at the county or municipality level and already by the end of 1971, a new agency was established, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency⁵³.

As described above, there was an enormous need for action to take place in respect to pollution prevention, structural planning of new production plants and new pollution sites, preservation of the surrounding nature and an organisation of the regulatory authorities. In other words, the division of labour in the environmental field should be organised and meanwhile environmental improvements were made. The Ministry of Environmental Protection therefore soon became responsible for a fairly large administrative area - simply due to the fact that there was a profound political accept of this area and moreover a very obvious need for pollution preventing action.

4.2.2 Concern for the global effect of pollution

In the mid-80s, the international dimensions of pollution were a still growing issue. It was no longer sufficient to clean up in our "own backyard". It became clearer that effects from pollution in other parts of the world also have an impact on our health conditions (and vice versa). Thus, there was an increasing attention on the global characteristics of pollution.

This shift was stimulated by the UN report "Our Common Future" (1987) that introduced the concept of sustainable development implying that environmental policies should secure the same conditions for the next generations as we are provided with today. The report made it clear that in order to achieve a sustainable development, administrative and political decisions should incorporate environmental, economic and social concern. The report also included a plea that environmental concern need to be firmly anchored in sector policies in order to prevent the creation of environmental problems.

4.2.3 Denmark as an EU member state

Denmark became a member state of the European Community in 1973 – the year the EC adopted its first environmental action programme. The first legally binding instruments on environmental issues were adopted in 1975 (waste, air and water) and a general directorate on environment, DG Environment, was established the same year. A section covering the environment was included in the Treaty in 1987. The section covers aims and principles on the environmental area, it lays down EU authority to act on behalf of the member states, rules and procedures on the adoption of environmental legislation and the authority of the member states to implement more strict rules. Directive 85/337 on environmental impact assessment introduced a horizontal approach towards combating environmental degradation.

After 1987, the number of EU environmental legislation increased considerably. In the Treaty as amended by the Maastricht agreement, which entered into force in 1993, sustainable development of the environment is incorporated in article 2 (principles) and in article 6 it is stated that environmental considerations shall be integrated in each sector policy.

Through the years, Denmark has played an active role in EU on the field of environment. Both because Denmark has been one of the leading countries in Europe on the environmental field, but probably also because Denmark as a small member state would have little success in trying to dominate the "heavy" areas lead by Germany, France and England. The field of environment has therefore been a convenient tool for promoting Denmark in the EU. Denmark was one of the main initiators of the amendments of the Treaty in Maastricht in 1992.

The areas of Danish environmental regulation that are most dominated by EU regulation are water, air, waste and chemicals. For further information, please refer to chapter 3, section 3.3.1.

Since 1967 the EU has promoted the harmonisation of regulations on the area of chemicals based on interests for promoting the free movements of goods. Later on environmental considerations were included in the grounds for regulating the area. Most directives on chemicals are total harmonisation directives. The area of chemicals has therefore been largely influenced by EU regulation from the very beginning of Danish EU membership.

4.2.4 Action plans

Since the mid-80s the period was characterised by the elaboration of several overall action plans. This was not least stimulated by the "Our Common Future" report which did challenge authorities to be crucially aware of the time-horizon of decision-making in order to avoid solutions that only are beneficial to society within a short-time perspective. These plans are briefly presented below:

	The first action programme to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter from agriculture, the so-called NPO action plan, was presented in 1985. It was replaced in 1987 by the more comprehensive Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment.
	The Pesticide Action Plan, 1986, aimed at reducing pesticide application.
	The Action Plan for Sustainable Agriculture, 1991.
	The Action plan for energy and transport greenhouse gas emissions, "Energy 2000". The purpose of the plan is to fulfil Denmark’s international obligation under the Climate Change Convention and related EU-agreements.

The action plans would normally contain specific, often quantitative, time-bound, and measurable environmental targets. They also list specific initiatives that shall be carried out in order to achieve the objectives.

4.2.5 The dominant understanding

Overall it had become popular during this period to be concerned about the environment and therefore, the political parties fought about the "right" approach to environmental issues and pollution prevention. The environment kept its status as a highly important issue within the Danish society and there was a continuous focus on governmental attempts to make the environmental rules more rigorous.

Differences in understanding of the relationship between nature and human beings acted as the template for the Danish environmental debate. On the one hand environmental activists were frightened by the dark predictions and agitated for a need to act in pact with nature.

On the other hand, industry sometimes found itself held responsible for environmental impact from both significant and insignificant pollution in which it was difficult to prove or verify their emissions or lacking emission. However, due to the historically accepted commitment to the regulatory system as well as the general societal acceptance of the environmental concern, industry found itself in a situation where it felt obliged to obey environmental regulation both at the local and governmental level.

4.3 Prevention of environmental problems (1992-98)

With the adoption of a profoundly revised Environmental Protection Act in 1991, the Ministry of Environment and Energy changed the focus into initiatives based on cleaner technology. The wording of the new law was to prevent and combat pollution by way of the following:

	Limit the use and waste of natural resources and other resources
	Encourage the use of cleaner technology
	Encourage recycling and reduce problems connected to removal of waste.

Compared to the former environmental act, this law was strongly oriented towards pollution prevention. Lifecycle analyses and substitution of the use of non-renewable resources became important issues. The regulators tried to help industries and households in the processes to measure the consequences of production or consumption and seek for alternatives.

4.3.1 Effect on society

The new type of regulation presented in the new 1991 Environmental Protection Act made it possible for the single company or organisation to gain some value for their environmental investments instead of only regulatory compliance. Cleaner technology was an initiative that on the one hand could reduce the use of non-renewable resources and limit emissions, and on the other hand could result in technological progress. Therefore, many companies and organisations saw an advantage in the new law and began actively to take part in the process of improving the environmental conditions.

Industry definitely realised during this era that they had to deal with environmental issues one way or the other.

4.3.2 Local Agenda 21

Following the Rio 1992 Summit held by the UN, Denmark started to initiate Local Agenda 21 activities. The set-up was for every participating country to organise holistic environmental initiatives at the municipal level. In Denmark the municipalities were already quite familiar with environmental regulation and some of them saw it as a new opportunity to promote environmental concern in their local jurisdiction. Unfortunately, many municipalities had difficulties in lifting the obligation. During the following years, however, these municipalities could adopt some of the initiatives from the proactive municipalities with the result that many of the Danish municipalities now have a fairly high level of environmental concern integrated in their political strategies and daily work.

70% of Danish municipalities have currently elaborated Agenda 21 plans.

4.3.3 The political consumer

In this period environmental policy became a matter also of consumer behaviour; a phenomenon called the political consumer. This tendency was actually encouraged by the authorities via the introduction of various forms of green labelling. This aimed at making it easier for the consumer to choose products that are acceptable from an environmental and health point of view. This era also saw some very spectacular events that made the political consumer react strongly. A well-know example is Brent Spar:

The Shell company had worked closely with the British authorities to point out an environmentally acceptable way to eliminate Brent Spar – an oil rig in the North Sea. Despite Shells efforts, Greenpeace declared that Shell was dumping the oil rig in order to avoid costly investments needed to secure the environmental conditions.

In Denmark the Greenpeace wave was followed. Central actors in the environmental policy such as the Minister of Environment and the EU-Commissioner for environment all chose to believe Greenpeace. Ritt Bjerregaard, the then Danish environmental EU-Commissioner, said that it was a great victory for environment not to dump the Brent Spar. The Danish Minister of Environment and Energy argued that the Danish government would consider to boycott Shell as a supplier and moreover they proposed to their citizens to boycott Shell as well.

To the industry the event demonstrated the importance that environmental precaution for companies had reached. With one strike it became clear that insufficient environmental precaution could lead to closing down a business. Moreover, there were a lot of external environmental stakeholders who identified themselves as "the tongue of nature" and expected to be heard.

Another effect was the rise of a non-organised movement, the political concerned consumers, consisting of individual consumers, who would not accept the action from Shell and thus decided to boycott the company. The movement indicated a strong political attitude and a high level of environmental concern. This movement was characterised to consist of well educated, fairly young citizens with a relatively high salary and a more or less leftwing political orientation⁵⁴.

4.3.4 Environmental standardisation

Besides the new awareness of the possible advantages of environmental concern and investments in new technology, the market itself set up methods to deal with the environmental issues in the market. Until then, many companies had tried to promote themselves as a green company or a producer of green products and this tendency had caused a considerable amount of problems due to the inconsistency in these statements. Quite often it was impossible to evaluate the statements and thus risky for a company to buy these products as "green" or environmentally friendly.

By the mid-1990s, a new tool was evolving in the form of environmental management systems and certifications of these. With the new standardised certification of environmental management systems, EMAS and ISO 14000, other aspects than governmental rule became crucial for the industry to relate to. Most of the Danish companies had an experience with certification of quality management (ISO 9000) and were therefore familiar with the underlying consequences of being certified but still only few enterprises have acquired a certification.

4.3.5 Integrated Product Policy

In 1996 the Danish EPA introduced a new strategy which set focus on the environmental impacts from products throughout their lifecycle. It was recognised that the future environmental improvements to achieve the sustainable development objectives had to involve the impacts from products as well as a stakeholder involvement.

The previous environmental efforts were based on approaches towards sources, medium and substances. The product oriented approach aims at continuous improvements in the environmental performance of products and services within a lifecycle context. The strategy also includes market development to promote production and marketing of cleaner products. At the initial stage the efforts was concentrated on the development of tools to analyse and assess the environmental impacts of products and development of a public green procurement policy. However, the product initiative is defined to include the three major elements: lifecycle perspective, market orientation and stakeholder involvement.

This has been introduced for three pilot areas: Textiles, electronics and transportation of goods. For these three areas, product panels were set up with relevant stakeholders for each field. An essential task for each of these panels, as well as any future panel, is to draft action plans and to define commercial and environmental goals for each product area. Specific instruments and initiatives relevant for each product area are defined.

4.3.6 Other initiatives

A number of initiatives of a general interest was introduced during this period. The initiatives relating to environmental factors in relation to health, are listed below:

	The Parliament adopts the Action Plan on Waste and Recycling, 1992.
	The Danish Oil Association signs an agreement with environmental authorities concerning a clean-up programme for contaminated soil at the petrol stations, 1992.
	The government launches the green tax reform, which – among other things – introduces and raises a number of green taxes on consumption, 1993.
	The Ministry of Environment and Energy presents a green paper on "Strategy for the Protection of the Groundwater", 1993.
	The Parliament adopts a number of green taxes to reduce Danish emission of CO2 and SO2, 1995.
	Parliament revises the Environmental Protection Law, introducing green accounting in companies likely to have significant impact on the environment, 1995.
	The Minister of Environment and Energy launches a strategy on protection of groundwater, 1995.
	Parliament adopts a revision of the Act on Chemical Substances and Products to phase out the most harmful pesticides, 1995.
	The Minister of Environment and Energy presents a report to Parliament on future initiatives in the field of chemicals, 1997.
	As a follow-up to the 1997 chemical strategy, DEPA presents a list of some 100 undesirable substances, 1998.
	The government approves the second action plan for the aquatic environment, 1998.
	The government releases a new action plan on waste called Waste 21, 1998.

4.3.7 The dominant understanding

The environment continued to be a salient issue in the public as well as the political arena; peaking from time to time when particular events stirred the attention. It was no longer questioned whether the environment should be protected, but rather the level of protection and how to achieve the desired level of protection. The agenda probably shifted slightly from being rooted in health concern towards focusing on protection of the natural environment. Nature restoration, for instance, became a well-know concept.

The period also marked a profound interest as to the global environmental problems, in particular the climate change issue.

4.3.8 The influence of EU

The EU had a significant effect on Danish environmental policies and legislation through the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s.

However, in 1996 the IPPC directive was adopted introducing an environmental permit system for so-called heavy polluting industries. The system largely corresponds to the Danish environmental permit system and has not led to considerable changes in Danish regulation. Furthermore, the Air Quality Framework directive was adopted in 1996 fixing a number of principles for future air quality values, and the Water Framework Directive is probably going to be adopted by the end of 2000. All directives introduce a horizontal approach towards combating environmental degradation.

Denmark takes a great interest in the environmental work in EU and under the international society as such. Denmark is to a large extent influenced by, and influences, the environmental policies, strategies and principles that are given birth in these forums. In 1992, EU adopted the 5^th Environmental Action Programme. The programme, which serves as the basis of the EU environmental policy and the guide for its related actions, differs from previous programmes. As its title 'Towards Sustainability' implies, the programme sets longer term objectives and focuses on a more global approach. It thus corresponded fairly well with the Danish priorities during this period.

4.4 Summing up

Danish and international environmental policy has changed radically since 1960.

First, it would appear that the starting point for environmental policy in Denmark was a concern for the public health rather than nature protection. Since the mid-19th century, many Danes, in particular those living in the cities, have sensed and felt the problems on their own body in the form of poor air quality in cities, poor indoor climate, stench from human waste, reduced duration of life, etc. The health problems seem to have been an effective catalyst for environmental protection.

Second, the period since 1960 has been characterised by a significant increase in the political attention devoted to environmental and health issues; a development that parallels – albeit probably a bit delayed - the change in the public perception of pollution that has undergone a dramatic change from ignorance to high-level attention.

Third, during the last four decades the regulatory set-up has been established and refined. It began with the local health commissions and so far it has resulted in the establishment of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, in addition to environmental authorities at municipal and county level.

Fourth, the philosophy of regulation has changed. Once dilution was seen to suffice, but later – when the emissions were too massive to be absorbed by the recipients - the focus changed to cleaning. However, the cleaning approach was not unproblematic as if often resulted in a new waste problematic. This has spurred an interest in prevention of pollution via utilisation of cleaner technology and ultimately also of cleaner products.

In the table next page, the development is summarised.

Table 4.1
Overview of main trends in Danish policy, etc. regarding environmental factors in relation to health

4.5 References

Brundtland, G.H. (1987): "Our Common Future", Report from the World Commission on Environment and Development, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Engberg, Jens (1999a): "Det heles vel. Forureningsbekæmpelse i Danmark fra loven om sundhedsvedtægter i 1850´erne til miljøloven i 1974". Københavns Kommune, Miljøkontrollen. (Summary in English - see below).

Engberg, Jens (1999b): For The Common Weal. The story of pollution control in Denmark from the 1850s to 1974, City of Copenhagen, Miljøkontrollen.

Jamison, A. et. al, (1990): "The Making of the New Environmental Consciousness - A comparative Study of the Environmental Movements in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands", Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.

Jensen, B (1996): "Miljøproblemer og velfærd" (Environmental problems and Welfare), Spektrum, Copenhagen.

Lex; C (fourthcoming): "Aktør i et spind af miljøforståelser - hvordan en virksomhed påvirkes i sit valg af miljøhandling" (Actor in net of environmental misunderstandings - how a company is influenced in its choice of environment handling), Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen.

Lykkegaard, M (1994): "Skærpet erstatningsansvar for miljøskader" (Increased liability for environmental damages), Lov nr. 225 af 6-4-94, Advokatfirma Bill Andersen, Århus.

Mikkelsen (1965): "Speech form the Annual Board Meeting", Danish Conservation Society.

Ministry of Environment (1988): "Redegørelse om mål og midler i miljøpolitikken 1989-94" (Statement of targets and means in the environmental policy), Copenhagen.

Ministry of Environment and Energy (1992) " Miljøindsatsen i 90’erne - sigtelinier, principper, hovedindsatsområde" (Environmental perfomances in the 90es, outline, principles and main areas) Copenhagen.

DEPA (1991) "Orientering om ny miljøbeskyttelseslov" (Information about the new law on environmental protection), orientering fra Miljøstyrelsen, nr. 6.

Moe, Mogens (1997): "Miljøret" (Environmental Law).

Pagh, Peter (1996): "EU miljøret" (EC Environmental Law).

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