Archived press release

Worst smog of the year

13 August 1997

Britain suffered the worst summertime smog of the year on Sunday when ozone levels exceeded Government health standards at 57 out of 68 air quality monitoring stations [1].Levels continued to be high on Monday.

However, a Friends of the Earth analysis shows that Government public information bulletins have seriously misled the public over smog levels, describing air quality as good on 94% of occasions this year when ozone levels, in fact, exceeded the Government's own safe level [2].

The health-threatening smogs have been kept secret because of the Government's failure to update the way it provides air quality information to reflect its new ozone standard. A consultation paper proposing changes in the way information is provided was promised by the Government in the spring of 1995 but not issued until January 1997 [3].

Still no action has been taken even though Transport Minister, Glenda Jackson described the situation as "lamentable" as long ago as 1995 [4].

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

"Smog levels this summer have regularly exceeded the Government's air quality standard. Yet Government air quality bulletins routinely cover up most of these pollution episodes - disguising the health threat to those at risk from this kind of pollution. It is only when levels get really bad, as they did this weekend, that the public gets told the truth".

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] On Sunday, levels of ozone, the main constituent of health-threatening summertime smog, reached 118 parts per billion (ppb) in Leamington Spa and peaked at 112 ppb in East Sussex and 111 ppb in Rochester. The Government's ozone standard (50 ppb average over 8 hours) was exceeded virtually throughout England and Wales,save at certain road-side sites where nitrogen oxide pollution kept ozone levels low.

The ozone standard was exceeded at 34 sites on Monday, but levels were described as "poor" at only two sites.

Ozone is formed by the interaction of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons in sunlight.It irritates the mucous membrane of the respiratory system, causing coughing,choking and impaired lung function and exacerbating asthma symptoms. Other common symptoms include headaches, eye, nose and throat irritation and chest discomfort on deep breathing. The principal source of both nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons is road traffic.

[2] The Government's National Air Quality Strategy, published in March 1997, set a health standard for ozone of 50 parts per billion (ppb) as an average over any 8-hour period. However the Government's public information bulletins still define ozone levels as "poor" only when they reach 90 ppb as a 1-hour average.

There have been a total of 684 days this year when levels of ozone have exceeded the Government's own health standards at the 68 monitoring sites throughout the United Kingdom. However, on only 39 occasions has air quality been described as"poor", representing less than 6% of smog episodes. The attached table shows, for each Government monitoring site, the number of days defined as "poor" as a proportion of the number of days where the health standard has been exceeded.

[3] The Government first announced its intention to revise the way it presents air quality information in January 1995, when it promised to issue a consultation paper in spring of that year. However the consultation paper "An Air Quality Public Information System for the United Kingdom" was delayed and delayed and not published until January 1997. In it the Government proposed to bring the public information bands for ozone into line with its own health standards. However this has not happened.

[4] Ms Jackson said: "the Government have (sic) a lamentable record in issuing warnings of, for example, excessive ozone in the air of London" Hansard (28 June 1995) Col. 999.

Table 1 Numbers of days when the Government described ozone levels as "poor"as a proportion of the number of days when the Government's ozone standard has been exceeded in 1997, by site

London
Bexley 2 out of 10
Bloomsbury 0 out of 3
Brent 0 out of 17
Eltham 2 out of 16
Hackney 0 out of 0
Harringey 1 out of 8
Hillingdon 0 out of 1
Kensington 0 out of 4
Lewisham 0 out of 3
Southwark 1 out of 12
Sutton 0 out of 7
Teddington 3 out of 29
Victoria 0 out of 3
Wandsworth 0 out of 3

South & East
Harwell (Oxon) 1 out of 20
Lullington Heath (Sussex) 1 out of 42
Rochester (Kent) 2 out of 29
Sibton (Suffolk) 3 out of 27
Southampton 0 out of 4
Thurrock 2 out of 17

South West
Bristol 0 out of 7
Exeter 0 out of 16
Somerton (Somerset) 0 out of 34
Yarner Wood (mid Devon) 0 out of 17

Wales
Aston Hill (mid Wales) 2 out of 20
Cardiff 0 out of 10
Pembrokeshire 0 out of 7
Port Talbot 0 out of 25
Swansea 0 out of 13

Midlands
Birmingham 0 out of 4
Birmingham East 1 out of 14
Bottesford (Notts) 2 out of 12
Coventry 0 out of 5
Ladybower (Derbyshire) 1 out of 23
Leamington Spa 2 out of 16
Leicester 1 out of 11
Nottingham 0 out of 5
Oldbury 1 out of 3
Stoke on Trent 2 out of 12
Wolverhampton 0 out of 5

North West
Bolton 0 out of 18
Bury 0 out of 1
Glazebury (Cheshire) 1 out of 12
Great Dun Fell (Cumbria) 0 out of 4
Liverpool 0 out of 4
Manchester Piccadilly 0 out of 4
Manchester South 0 out of 3
Salford Eccles 0 out of 8

North East
Barnsley Gawber 2 out of 10
High Muffles (North Yorks) 1 out of 17
Hull Centre 0 out of 2
Leeds 0 out of 1
Middlesbrough 0 out of 2
Newcastle 0 out of 1
Redcar 1 out of 9
Rotherham 1 out of 5
Sheffield 0 out of 3

Scotland
Bush (mid Scotland) 0 out of 8
Edinburgh 0 out of 1
Eskdalemuir 0 out of 16
Glasgow 0 out of 0
Strath Vaich (Highlands) 0 out of 12

Northern Ireland
Belfast 0 out of 8
Derry 0 out of 5
Lough Navar 0 out of 7

[Index]

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