Green MEP Jean Lambert and Baroness Jenny Jones AM join campaigners in urging Mayor and councils to do more to curb this “silent killer” as deaths linked to vehicle emissions rise in half of London’s boroughs.
Green MEP Jean Lambert, centre, with Clean Air director Simon Birkett and local campaigner
Maureen Childs
According to data published yesterday by Public Health England the percentage of deaths attributed to tiny particles (PM2.5), which are mainly spewed out from vehicle exhausts, rose in fifteen London boroughs in 2011, compared to the previous year.
In the two of the worst affected boroughs, Westminster and Islington, over 8% of mortality in 2011 was attributable to vehicle emission pollutants. In London as a whole, as many as 4,000 premature deaths are thought to have been caused by air pollution last year – more than as a result of either alcohol misuse or obesity.
In the wake of this news, Green Peer and London Assembly Member Jenny Jones has urged the Mayor to take the threat posed by car use seriously. “It is extremely disappointing that so many Londoners are being exposed to even higher levels of pollution from vehicles. The Mayor tells us he is acting to reduce pollution, but whatever he is doing, it’s clearly not enough. He must act now to bring effective measures to protect Londoners from excessive, dangerous and illegal levels of vehicular pollution”
“We need more electric vehicles, especially buses and vans, but the simplest solution is to reduce the total amount of traffic on our roads. The two key steps the Mayor needs to take to make this happen are to lower fares and to create a safe space for people to cycle.”
Meanwhile, Green MEP for London Jean Lambert joined local campaigner Chris Smith and Clean Air in London founder and director Simon Birkett to visit some of Tower Hamlets’ air pollution hotspots.
In the last year alone 71 people have died prematurely as a result of poor air quality in Tower Hamlets alone: a higher proportion of preventable deaths than in neighbouring boroughs Hackney and City of London – and one of the highest levels in the UK.
Ms Lambert, Green MEP for London, said the number of deaths was a tragedy – and called for immediate action.
“Every one of these 71 victims was somebody’s father, mother, son or daughter, and is a personal tragedy for family and friends.
“We know that air pollution levels are higher in Tower Hamlets than in most of the rest of the country – and far in excess of levels permitted by EU safety rules.”
She echoed Jenny’s criticism of the Mayors failure to protect Londoners: “Rather than try to deal with the problem we know that London Mayor Boris Johnson has tried to cover up the problem – and that he has sought to water down EU safety legislation rather than comply with it.
Following discussions with a number of local residents during her walking tour of the borough, she added: “People are surprised to learn that just last month the World Health Organisation classified air pollution as a significant cause of lung cancer – and in this, the EU ‘Year of Air‘, we need Tower Hamlets to adopt a significant programme of monitoring, mitigation and education to bring the number of these tragic cases down.”