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Govt risking UK lives by relaxing air pollution standards
photo by tatulund (Flickr CC)
The ‘Greenest government ever’ strikes again.
According to official figures pollution contributed to some 200,000 premature deaths in the UK in 2008, a number with disproportionate victims in poor, urban communities. Furthermore, health care costs total £20bn per year for pollution-related ailments.
And now the UK’s Conservative-led government wants to relax air quality standards and shift responsibility from national to local authorities. Standard Tory stuff, right?
From the Independent:
Poor air quality is caused by three main pollutants – nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and ozone. The UK is failing to meet EU limits for both nitrogen dioxide and PM.
A few middle class people buying hybrid or electric vehicles are not going to make much difference either.
The UK government’s environmental watchdog, the Environmental Audit Committee, claims that the David Cameron’s coalition government is avoiding following the pollution standards set by the European Union. The evidence shows that this (and lets not forget New Labour’s hand in this business) is killing people.
From BBC News:
It is estimated that around 4,000 people died as a result of the Great Smog of London in 1952. That led to the introduction of the Clean Air Act in 1956. In 2008, 4,000 people died in London from air pollution and 30,000 died across the whole of the UK. The government needs to act now, as government did in the 1950s, to save the health of the nation.
–Environmental Audit Committee report
We’ve come a long way, baby…
Tags: air, government, Pollution, UK
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Everything is out of proportioned , so what do we expect? no enough trees which is the prime oxygen source and the carbon dioxide absorbent.even it rains it’s not enough to wash all out the filth on the atmosphere, and no expectorant or mucolytic could ever expel those poison inside our lungs and all over our system, it will stay there. till death it wont depart….
Thanks, Smith. Some good solutions are also to limit private transport (less cars, more collective traffic and bikes, less long commutes) less road freight and more rail, tighter emissions standards, not more lax as the govt is effectively proposing.
I think the major part of air pollution is happen because of increasing industries and also because of increasing use of vehicle every year. Increasing greenery is only best solution of air pollution.