Archived press release

Smog Smashes Health Limits in Summer Scorcher

12 August 2003

Summertime smog levels [1] broke Government health limits at 76 out of 80 Government pollution monitoring sites last week, according to analysis released today by Friends of the Earth.

Smog levels at 25 sites broke health limits [2] every day from Monday 4th to Sunday 10th August. These sites were:

• Aston Hill (mid Wales)
• Blackpool
• Bottesford (Leicestershire)
• Bournemouth
• Cwmbran (South Wales)
• Great Dun Fell (Cumbria)
• Harwell (Oxfordshire)
• High Muffles (North Yorks)
• Leamington Spa
• London Brent
• London Haringey
• London Hillingdon
• London Teddington
• Lullington Heath (Sussex)
• Northampton
• Portsmouth
• Rochester (Kent)
• Sibton (Suffolk)
• Somerton (Somerset)
• Southend on Sea
• St Osyth (Essex)
• Thurrock (Essex)
• Wicken Fen (Cambs)
• Wigan Leigh
• Yarner Wood (Devon)

Five sites recorded pollution levels more than double the health standard. These were:

• Bournemouth (Sat 9th)
• Harwell (Sat 9th)
• Portsmouth (Sat 9th)
• Wicken Fen (Weds 6th)
• Wigan Leigh (Sat 9th)

The only sites where pollution levels above health standards were not recorded were Birmingham Centre, Bury Roadside, Edinburgh Centre and London Hackney. The Birmingham site recorded no data last week and Hackney recordings were intermittent, so it is impossible to know whether levels were exceeded.

Ozone causes coughing and choking, headaches, eye, nose and throat irritation and chest discomfort on deep breathing. It aggravates asthma symptoms and recent studies in California have suggested that ozone can cause asthma [3]. Government health experts have estimated that ozone pollution causes up to 12,500 premature deaths and up to 9,900 additional hospital admissions for respiratory problems every year [4]. Global climate change is likely to make the problem worse [5].

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

"Our record-breaking sunshine has brought a lot of smog, breaching health standards nationwide. And because of the way ozone pollution travels, people who tried to escape the heat of our cities for a breath of fresh air will have found they got just the opposite. The Government must do more to tackle the source of the pollution by cutting the amount of traffic on our roads. Widening motorways won't help us breathe more easily: the Government should be spending more on giving people real alternatives to using cars."

Notes

[1] Ozone pollution, or summertime smog, is formed by the interaction of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and hydrocarbons (HCs) in sunlight. This means that levels tend to be highest in summer, when there is more sunshine. The principal source of both nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons is road traffic.

Ozone is not a typical pollutant. Levels tend to be higher in rural areas than in towns and cities, for two reasons:

The chemical processes producing ozone can take many hours. This means that the ozone may be formed some distance downwind of the original NOx and HC sources;

Ozone is also destroyed by other pollutants in vehicle exhausts. In these reactions, the ozone reacts with nitric oxide to produce nitrogen dioxide. This tends to reduce ozone levels in towns and cities where there are large amounts of nitric oxide, also from vehicle exhausts. In rural areas, with lower levels of vehicle exhaust pollution, this 'mopping up' process is slower.

Not all of the ozone found in the UK is the result of emissions in the UK. High ozone levels in southern and eastern areas can be as a result of emissions of NOx and HCs in continental Europe, if the wind is in the right direction.

[2] The Government's 'Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland', published in 2000, set the health standard for ozone at 100 microgrammes per cubic metre (mg/m3), equivalent to 50 parts per billion (ppb), measured as the daily maximum of running 8-hour means. Friends of the Earth's analysis covered the whole of last week from Monday 4th August to Sunday 10th August.

[4] Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution 'The quantification of the effects of air pollution on health in the United Kingdom' (Department of Health, 1998)

[5] United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2001) 'Climate change 2001: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability' p460

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust