Archived press release

DoE HOTLINE CONCEALS 90% OF "SUMMERTIME SMOGS"

25 September 1996

Information given by Government to the public on air quality has concealed the existence of over 90% of the ozone "summertime smogs" that have taken place this year according to new figures published today by Friends of the Earth [1].

Publication of a Government consultation paper into ways of correcting this mis-information has been delayed for over a year, but is expected by the end of the month [2].The delay has meant that millions of people may have been misled about the quality of the air they breathe.

Tony Bosworth, Air Pollution Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:

"The public depend on the Government for accurate information on the quality of the air they breathe. Our survey shows that on 90% of the days when ozone levels exceeded the Government's recommended standard, the Government described air quality as "good".

"How can the Government describe air quality as "good" when pollution levels break its own health standard? It must amend the descriptions given in its air quality bulletins as soon as possible and conduct an urgent inquiry into why its promised consultation paper has not been published."

Friends of the Earth is camapigning for an air quality information system which ensures that the Government must tell the public when air pollution levels break its own health standards.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] The Department of the Environment publishes hourly updated reports on and forecasts of air quality on Ceefax, Teletext and through a telephone hotline (0800 556 677). These reports and forecasts are regularly published in many newspapers. Air quality is described for each pollutant as "very good", "good", "poor" and "very poor" depending on the highest hourly reading reached.

For ozone, the principal constituent of "summertime smog", air quality is described as "good" unless hourly readings rise above 90 parts per billion (ppb). However, the Government's Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards (EPAQS) recommended in 1994 that an air quality standard of 50 ppb averaged over eight hours be adopted as a health standard for ozone. The Government has recently accepted this recommendation. This level is also the health guideline recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

It is perfectly possible for the EPAQS 50 ppb eight hour standard to be exceeded without levels reaching 90 ppb. In such cases, air quality would be described as"good" even though it breached the EPAQS standard. FOE analysis shows that the eight hour standard has been exceeded on an average of almost seventeen days per monitoring site in 1996, yet the Government has said air quality is "poor" on an average of only 1.25 occasions at each site. In other words, during over 90% of"summertime smogs" air quality has been described as "good". A table showing the number of days air quality was described as poor and the number of days the EPAQS standard was exceeded for each site is attached.

[2] The Government has known that its reports and forecasts could mislead the public in this way for over eighteen months. In January 1995, it said: "Independent research had indicated that the current banding level designations could be improved. The Government has therefore reviewed its public information arrangements in the light of its proposals for a new framework of air quality standards. Consultation proposals will be published shortly" (Air Quality:Meeting the Challenge).

However it has yet to issue these consultation proposals.

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