While the supreme court ruled last month that the UK is failing to tackle air pollution and the London Assembly is asking mayor, Boris Johnson, for urgent measures to cut down nitrogen dioxide emissions in the city,  air pollution’s  effects on health are still ongoing.

In 2009 COMEAP (Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants) reported that around 29,000 premature deaths per year are due to air pollution and almost 4000 of them are in London alone according to a study commissioned in 2010 by London Local Authority to the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM).

Dr Ian Mudway, lecturer in respiratory toxicology with the Environmental Research Group at King’s College London, says:

“Air pollution is the second greatest environmental risk to public health in UK after cigarette smoking. When people die in car accidents, the dramatic event is right in front of you. When we talk about premature death we talk about those long term effects of air pollution that make your life expectancy shorter every day.”

“The killers” 

The main threat is nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a gas caused mainly by traffic and domestic heating – produced mainly by the combination and combustion of oxygen and nitrogen – highly toxic and that contributes along with other substances to the formation of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5).

Dr Gary Fuller, who leads the London Air Quality Network says: “We measure all the pollutants that might affect public health in London every 15 minutes, and especially particulate matter.

“Particulate matter  is an invisible widespread pollutant formed by natural and anthropogenic sources such as combustion engines and solid fuels and it is made by tiny particles that can easily be breathed and seriously affects our respiratory system.”

Long-term exposure is one of the main causes of lung cancer and premature death in people with pre-existing lung or heart diseases.

But what does “premature death” mean? Dr Ian Mudway explains:

“What we are really talking about when we talk about premature deaths, it’s life expectancy” says Dr Mudway, “It means that long-term exposure to air pollution can actually make you loose months or years in the last phase of your life and make the quality of it worse every day.

Brian Miller from IOM explains: “Premature death is a controversial term. What we estimated was the effect of particulate air pollution on mortality risk on population as the equivalent to the number of deaths.”

What are the real consequences for health?

The World Health Organisation reported in 2013 that short-term exposure to particulate matter can cause serious respiratory conditions such as asthma and other cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary diseases.

Who is at risk?

According to the WHO, the main susceptible groups are the ones with pre-existing or genetic respiratory or cardiovascular diseases and the elderly. Also at risk are children, whose lung’s growth can be seriously affected and as a consequence may develop a chronic deficit in function.

“There are so many variables that come into play; we are all different and genetics is the key. Some people are highly sensitive and some people are bullet-proof, it is really difficult to identify who is at risk and this is why research is crucial. The main problem is that you have no choice about the air you breathe so it doesn’t matter which category you belong to, we are always at risk.”

Main Picture: Cristina Odero

Picture: Wikicommons