Home > Press releases > 2002
05 Dec 2002
Fifty years to the day from the start of the Great Smog [1], new health
research shows that cutting pollution levels in London would save hundreds
of lives every year. Government pollution targets are lower in London
than in the rest of the UK.
Research recently published by the EU’s APHEIS project [2] shows
that cutting levels of particle pollution [3] from the current annual
average level of 22 microgrammes per cubic metre to 20 microgrammes
per cubic metre would prevent 433 premature deaths every year from chronic
(long-term) exposure [4].
Earlier this year the Government published revised targets for PM10
particle pollution. The target for London is an annual average level
of 23 microgrammes per cubic metre, to be achieved by the end of 2010.
The target for the rest of the UK is an annual average of 20 microgrammes
per cubic metre, to be achieved by the same date. The reason for the
difference between the targets, according to the Government, is because,
in London “development, industrial activity and transport levels
differ markedly from the rest of England” [5].
Friends of the Earth Pollution Campaigner Tony Bosworth said:
“Londoners cannot breathe easy on the fiftieth anniversary of
the Great Smog thinking that air pollution problems have gone away.
The pollution may not be visible but it is still deadly, and
is killing hundreds of people prematurely every year.
Londoners should have just as much right to breathe clean
air as people in the rest of the country. But the Government
has set weak pollution standards for London,
rather than taking tough action to reduce pollution, especially
from traffic“.
[1] The Great Smog of 1952 lasted from Friday
5th December to Tuesday 9th December, and
killed an estimated 4,000 people.
[2] APHEIS stands for ‘Air Pollution and
Health: a European Information System’. The findings on London
pollution levels are taken from Medina S, Plasència A, Artazcoz
L, Quénel P, Katsouyanni K, Mücke H.-G, De Saeger E, Krzyzanowsky
M, Schwartz J and the contributing members of the APHEIS group APHEIS
Health Impact Assessment of Air Pollution in 26 European Cities. Second
year report, 2000-2001. Institut de Veille Sanitaire, Saint-Maurice.
This was published last month.
[3] Particles are microscopically small specks
of dust and soot. PM10 refers to particles less than 10 microns across
– this is 1/100th of a millimetre. Fine particles
can be carried deep into the lungs where they can cause inflammation
and a worsening of heart and lung diseases. Road transport is responsible
for 67.9% of PM10 emissions in London.
[4] The APHEIS research concluded that “the
estimated reductions in the numbers of deaths attributable to
the chronic effects of air pollution in London are not negligible –
a reduction in the annual mean concentration of PM10 from 22 to 20 ug/m3
is associated with a reduction of 433 in the number of deaths”
APHEIS used the London Bloomsbury site for its measurements. This is
classified as ‘urban background’.
[5] Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) press release 323/02 Cutting air pollution – tough new targets
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
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