The GDR is the country with the highest degree of air pollution in Europe. The oil crisis and the subsequent substitution of oil, coal and gas by lignite has led to an enormous increase of SO2-emissions. The highest air pollution concentrations are found in the industrial centres of Halle and Leipzig. The end of the socialist system in the GDR and the financial, economical and social union with the FRG is also the beginning of fundamental changes in the field of environmental protection, -regulations and -management. In June the Volkskammer passed a law for the assimilation of GDR environmental regulations to FRG-right presented by the common environmental commission. Subsequently, the old structure of the Hygiene Inspectorates has to be reorganised to ensure an efficient environmental control. The development of environmental epidemiology, the investigation of diseases caused by environmental pollutions should play an important role in environmental research.