Archived press release

Deadly pollution levels soar in 1996

12 January 1997

Levels of deadly particulate pollution in many British cities rose alarmingly last year,according to a Friends of the Earth analysis of Government monitoring data [1].

Friends of the Earth's analysis shows that the number of days on which particulate pollution levels exceeded the Government's proposed health standard rose by 20% in London(Bloomsbury), 50% in central Birmingham, 18% in Leeds and 30% in Bristol [2]. In Belfast,the worst affected city, levels broke the Government standard on 127 days, more than one day in three [3].

At eleven out of fifteen sites, 1996 was the worst year of the last three for the number of days on which the health standard was exceeded.

Friends of the Earth believes these figures suggest that current policies will not enable the Government to meet its targets to reduce particulate pollution [4]. Urgent measures are needed to cut urban emissions of small particles, which mainly come from diesel vehicles.FOE is calling on the Government to back moves to tighten new European emissions laws by making use of cleaner low-sulphur fuel mandatory for all diesel vehicles [5].

Roger Higman, Senior Transport Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:

"Particulate pollution is reckoned to kill 10,000 people in this country every year.These figures prove that the problem is not going away. Cleaner, low sulphur diesel can bring emissions levels down quickly at a cost few drivers would notice. The Government must back moves to make its use mandatory."

NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] Friends of the Earth compared levels of small particles (PM10) at all sites where data was available over all or most of the years from 1994 to 1996. Numbers of exceedances for 1994 and 1995 were taken from summary tables in the National Air Quality Archive. Exceedances in 1996 were calculated by Friends of the Earth using data from the Archive (as 1996 summaries have yet to be published). The last six months worth of this data (from July-December 1996) has yet to be validated.

The number of exceedances for each site over the last three years is shown in the attached table.

Increased concentrations of small particles have been closely related to increases in a number of medical conditions including death due to strokes, heart and lung disease, as well as hospital admissions for lung diseases and increased suffering due to asthma.

[2] The United Kingdom National Air Quality Strategy proposes a health standard for particulate pollution of 50 g/m3 (expressed as a running 24 hour average).

[3] Particulate pollution in Belfast is a special problem because of the widespread use of coal as a domestic fuel in the city. In the rest of the UK, urban particulate pollution is overwhelmingly the result of road traffic, especially diesel vehicles.

[4] The United Kingdom National Air Quality Strategy proposes that exceedances of the proposed 50 g/m3 standard be reduced to just four per year by 2005. It estimates that this will require reductions in particulate emissions from vehicles of at least 61%- which is dependent upon the introduction of tougher European standards for diesel vehicles and fuels. However the Government's assessment of the reductions requird was based on air quality data from previous years when exceedances were lower.The 1996 data suggests that tougher measures may need to be introduced.

[5] In June 1996, the European Commission published proposals for tougher standards for new petrol and diesel cars and tighter controls on fuel quality to come into effect from the year 2000. Although the standards for new cars have been widely welcomed, the fuel quality proposals have been criticised for being too lax. Changes to fuel quality are particularly important because they cut pollution from all vehicles as soon as they are introduced, whereas reductions in emission limits for new cars take up to ten years to become fully effective.

A number of European Governments including Germany and Austria, as well as the European motor industry, are backing moves to tighten fuel standards further, in particular by reducing the sulphur content of diesel fuel. Research has shown that reducing the sulphur content of diesel can help reduce particulate emissions from heavy vehicles by almost 10% and cars by over 20%. Its introduction would cost the average motorist with a diesel car less than £10 a year.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust