Air pollution: invisible health threat
- October 16, 2015, 5:37 pm
- Breaking News
- 90 Views
HQ
QUETTA: How safe is the air that we breathe? The VW diesel emissions scandal has highlighted the issue of air pollution.
The two pollutants which give most cause for concern are the toxic gas nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM2.5), particles so small they can be ingested deep into the lungs.
Earlier this year the UK's highest court ruled the government must take action to cut NO2 pollution. The UK has been in breach of EU limits for nitrogen dioxide for several years.
Last month the environment ministry DEFRA published a consultation on draft plans to improve air quality.
This places the emphasis on local authorities to improve air quality and would still see Greater London not meeting the required NO2 levels for another 10 years.
The government accepts that the combined impact of NO2 and particulate matter pollution "represents a significant public health challenge".
The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) suggests that 23,500 lives are cut short each year by NO2, and 29,000 by particulate matter.
When I spoke to Frank Kelly, Prof of Environmental Health, King's College London and a member of COMEAP, he stressed that you can't simply add the two figures together to get the total effect - there will be some overlap.
Furthermore, he pointed out that new - more accurate - mortality estimates will be released by COMEAP in December.
Prof Kelly was nonetheless adamant that "tens of thousands of lives" in the UK are ended prematurely by air pollution every year.
He told me: "Air pollution is second only to active smoking as a public health threat, and in the past decade we have greatly increased our understanding of its dangers."
It is worth pointing out that you won't find air pollution listed on any death certificate.
Rather, these are lives cut short by heart disease, stroke, lung disease or cancer that are triggered or exacerbated by pollutants.
In city centres most of that pollution is coming from traffic, and diesel engines produce far more NO2 and particulate matter than petrol.- Courtesy BBC Medical correspondent
