The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said today that further bold action is urgently needed to tackle London’s filthy air, as new analysis by researchers from Imperial College London shows air
pollution contributed to over 1,700 hospital admissions for asthma and COPD between 2017 and 2019.
Poor air quality stunts the growth of children’s lungs, creates new respiratory conditions and worsens existing chronic illnesses, such as asthma, lung and heart disease. The Mayor called today’s analysis ‘a stark reminder’ that the health of Londoners is being damaged by air pollution.
The new evidence, published today via Imperial Projects, shows:
- The rapid improvement in air pollution levels reduced the number of hospital admissions for asthma and serious lung conditions by 30 per cent – from 2,450 (2014 – 2016) to 1,700 (2017 – 2019).
- The largest percentage improvement was among children under the age of 14 – between 2014 and 2016, around 1,000 of those admitted to hospital with airway diseases were children under 14 with asthma. Between 2016 and 2019, these air pollution attributable admissions were reduced to 700, a 30 per cent reduction.
- For some diseases, improving air quality has a direct and immediate benefit for public health.
The analysis adds to the growing body of evidence that bold action is required to reduce air pollution, tackle the climate emergency and cut congestion in the capital.
Earlier this month, the Mayor convened leaders from national and local government, health experts and campaigners, including Professor Chris Whitty, Defra Minister Jo Churchill MP and Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, at London’s Clean Air and Health Summit to agree the next steps needed to tackle air pollution Rosamund’s nine year-old daughter, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, died in 2013 following an asthma attack, became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death. Following the inquest, the Coroner set out areas of concern which were discussed at the summit, where actions were agreed.
The Mayor has already taken ground-breaking action to tackle toxic air, carbon emissions and congestion in the capital by introducing and then expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone and tightening the Low Emission Zone standards. These interventions are expected to lead to a five per cent fall in CO2 emissions from cars and vans in the zone, a 30 per cent cut in toxic nitrogen oxide emissions and a 35 per cent cut in toxic fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exhaust fumes.
Even so, there is still much more work to do before London meets legal and safe pollution limits and all Londoners can breathe clean air. Sixteen per cent of major roads in London still exceed the legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and of an estimated 322 care homes in the city in 2019, 87 per cent are in areas exceeding the WHO interim PM2.5 guideline. All 322 care homes were in areas exceeding the stricter WHO guideline limit for the protection of human health, for both NO2 and PM2.5.
City Hall recently published data showing that emissions of toxic air from road transport in outer London are not reducing at the same rapid speed as in central and inner London, underlining the need for further action.
The Mayor believes tackling air pollution is also a matter of social justice – with air pollution hitting the poorest communities the hardest. Londoners on lower incomes are more likely to live in areas of the city worst affected by air pollution, but are least likely to own a car and to contribute to the problem. Nearly half of Londoners don’t own a car, but they are disproportionally feeling the damaging consequences of polluting vehicles.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “London's toxic air is damaging people's health, which is leading to many hospitalisations. This new analysis is another stark reminder that air pollution is damaging the health of Londoners right across our city, and that we must do everything possible to protect children, the elderly and those with respiratory conditions from our filthy air.
“We have already made great progress in London in cutting air pollution and carbon emissions, but there’s clearly a long way to go and we can’t put off further action to protect the health of Londoners.”
Dr Heather Walton, from Imperial’s Environmental Research Group, and senior author of the report, said: “Air pollution continues to contribute to many hospital admissions for asthma and COPD in London but it is good to see that these hospital admissions have decreased from 2016 to 2019 as a result of air pollution reductions in London. More policies to reduce air pollution in London should reduce these numbers further and reduce other health impacts of air pollution as well.”
Dr Tom Coffey OBE, Mayoral Health Advisor, said: “As a GP working and living in Tooting, I've seen first hand the impact that poor air quality has on some of the most vulnerable people in the community. This analysis shows that the Mayor's actions on air pollution are edging us ever closer to a safer and greener city, and we cannot waste a single opportunity to ensure we get there. We know there's still work to be done, so I welcome further bold actions from the Mayor to help our city reach its 2030 targets to clean up London's air and protect Londoners health."
Ruth Fitzharris, mum and campaigner with Mums for Lungs, said: “London’s children deserve better. My son like thousands of children in London is significantly affected by air pollution. He's been admitted to hospital repeatedly with severe wheezing. These episodes are so frightening: no child or adult should suffer as a result of breathing dirty air. We urge policymakers to come together, to build on the improvements to air quality that have been made in London so far, and ensure that air pollution becomes a thing of the past.”
NOTES
The full analysis from Imperial is published here and here.
The report findings are based on health impact assessment calculations, taking results from previous research studies of the links between air pollution and asthma admissions and applying them to estimate the impacts of modelled changes in air pollution concentrations. Calculations were done for both fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The figures given here are for nitrogen dioxide representing both the effects of the pollutant itself and the effects of particulate matter from traffic.
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) describes a group of lung conditions that make it difficult to empty air out of the lungs because the airways have become narrowed. It is common in elderly people who have smoked. https://www.blf.org.uk/support-for-you/copd
The report released today focussed on asthma and COPD admissions but air pollution also has wider effects on health including deaths as described in a previous report http://www.erg.ic.ac.uk/research/home/projects/tfl-hia-maqp.html
About Imperial College London and the Environmental Research Group
Imperial College London is one of the world's leading universities. The College's 20,000 students and 8,000 staff are working to solve the biggest challenges in science, medicine, engineering and business. Imperial is University of the Year 2022 in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide. It is the world’s fifth most international university, according to Times Higher Education, with academic ties to more than 150 countries. Reuters named the College as the UK's most innovative university because of its exceptional entrepreneurial culture and ties to industry.
Imperial staff, students and alumni are working round-the-clock to combat COVID-19. Imperial is at the forefront of coronavirus epidemiology, virology, vaccine development and diagnostics.
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/
The Environmental Research Group is part of Imperial’s School of Public Health and is a leading provider of air quality information and research in the UK, combining air pollution science, toxicology and epidemiology to determine the impacts of air pollution on health and the role specific pollutants play in causing disease and deaths.
They work closely with those responsible for air quality management supporting policies and actions to minimise the impact of air pollution on health and established the London Air Quality Network, which continuously monitors air pollution levels at sites across London
The team from the Environmental Research Group were commissioned via Imperial Projects to provide their independent analysis for this report.
www.imperial.ac.uk/school-public-health/environmental-research-group
photo by Telerg at French Wikipedia.