More people are likely to be rushed to hospital with asthma attacks, some may die, because of Government reluctance to take effective steps to cut air pollution [1].

The Department of the Environment's 'Air Quality: Meeting the Challenge', published today, has failed the two vital tests of its resolve. It avoids commitments to legally binding air quality standards [2] and to policies which crack down on polluting factories and unnecessary car use during severe pollution episodes [3].

The UK air quality strategy is littered with pledges to "consult", "encourage", "review" and "consider". The only "duties" will be requirements to "appraise", "review" or "plan" but not to act.

New legislation will require local authorities to review air quality locally and to develop a remedial plan. Local authorities will not be given powers to lower speed limits, reduce parking availability, force industry to cut pollution or, in extreme circumstances, implement car bans.

Government failure to accept the air quality standard for ozone, recommended both by the WHO in 1987 and its own Expert Panel last year, is likely to cause particular embarassment [2]. Ozone is the pollutant most in need of control: it is the main ingredient of summertime smogs, and health guidelines are widely exceeded throughout the UK. Standards are proposed for benzene, carbon monoxide and 1,3-butadiene, but these lack legally binding attainment dates.

Fiona Weir, Air Pollution Campaigner said:

"The air quality strategy is an exercise in passing the buck to local authorities without giving them the resources and powers needed for effective action.

John Gummer has given little hope to the one in seven children with asthma. By the time they leave school modern smogs are unlikely to be consigned to the history books alongside the pea-soupers of the 1950s."

DOE's emphasis on the importance of assessing air quality is not matched by a commitment to an adequate expansion of UK air quality monitoring. Friends of the Earth will today write to the European Commission urging it to take the UK Government to the European Court for failure to increase the number of monitoring sites. The Commission has already commenced infringement proceedings against the UK Government in response to repeated complaints by Friends of the Earth about UK monitoring of nitrogen dioxide.

ENDS...

974 Notes to Editors

[1] Air pollution, at levels regularly experienced in the UK, is known to aggravate the symptoms of asthma. There is also clear evidence of increased hospital admissions during pollution episodes. Severe pollution episodes, such as the December 1991 incident during which nitrogen dioxide concentrations reached a historic high of 423 parts per billion, have been associated with significant levels of excess mortality - more than 150 people according to studies for the Department of Health by Professor Ross Anderson of St George's Hospital Medical School.

[2] Air Quality Standards

A legally binding standard with a tight timeline for compliance, would ensure that Government departments, local authorities and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution put into place policies which reduce air pollution.

It has taken the Department of the Environment seven years since publication of the World Health Organisation guidelines (1987) to publish proposals for UK air quality standards. Last year the DOE's Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards (EPAQS) published recommended standards for four pollutants. These were the same as the WHO guideline levels for ozone and carbon monoxide (but not for the carcinogens - benzene and 1,3-butadiene - for which WHO does not set a safe level).

The proposed ozone standard of 50 parts per billion over an eight hour period thus has double credibility - the WHO's extensive international peer review was endorsed by the DOE chosen experts.

To ensure that the ozone standard is not exceeded, emissions of nitrogen oxides would need to be cut by about 95%, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 75-85%.

The UK Government would be forced to progress further clean up measures by industry: petrol pump controls, improved testing and maintenance of vehicles, fiscal incentives to encourage fitting cleaner engines to dirty buses, addressing the catalytic converter cold start problem and forcing the oil industry to improve fuel quality.

These measures alone would not be adequate to meet the proposed ozone standard unless complemented by policies to tackle accelerating traffic growth. Policies to curb car use will have to play a part in any credible clean air strategy.

The air quality strategy does not set any standard for ozone, preferring to promote further discussion. The standards set for the other pollutants are in fact targets to be met by 2000 for benzene and 2005 for carbon monoxide and 1,3-butadiene. The timescale is an unacceptably slow one. Moreover, there is no legal obligation upon either Government or local authorities to ensure that the target is not exceeded.

[3] Smog Alerts

In response to 1994's summertime smog events, the German Government is drawing up plans to ensure any future episodes are anticipated and steps taken to cut pollution rapidly. Experiments in some regions of Germany this summer have shown the value of simple measures such as reducing the speed limits on motorways to 50-55 mph.

More ambitious measures can be introduced in steps as pollution levels rise - from reducing availability of parking in city centres, restricting the use of diesel cars, through to banning the use of all cars without catalytic converters full scale car bans in the most extreme cases (with appropriate exemptions for the disabled and for professions such as doctors, or health visitors). There are examples of such measures in a number of European countries.

Given the excess mortality associated with December 1991 pollution episodes and the growing evidence of increased hospital admissions and greater use of medication by asthmatics when air quality is poor, it is vital that Government ensures pollution levels are brought down rapidly during severe episodes.

Exhortations to drivers alone are unlikely to be effective. Government statements on this matter have been somewhat misleading. Surveys of the 1994 ozone episodes showed that 62% of those surveyed had heard of the high levels of pollution. 83% of these recalled advice being given to "think about whether you really need to use your car". Of those who had heard about the pollution and recalled this advice, 41% claims to have thought about whether they really needed to use their car. How many actually did leave the car at home is unclear.