London pollution: 'We are slowly gassing ourselves to death - but we can change it'

Smog in London has reached severe levels in 2017
Jeremy Selwyn
Ara Darzi17 February 2017

The air we breathe is critical to life. But we are slowly gassing ourselves to death. London breached the annual air pollution limit for the whole of 2017 in the first five days of the year.

Sadiq Khan has urged the Government to offer cash incentives to the owners of older, diesel powered vehicles to ditch their polluting engines and replace them with cleaner, greener alternatives.

But we need to go further. Air pollution is the number one environmental cause of premature death in the UK and across Europe, responsible for 10 times the deaths from traffic accidents. It is harming the development of our children, increasing hospital admissions and A&E attendances and reducing life expectancy.

When I chaired the London Health Commission in 2013-14, I heard how London’s air quality was the poorest in the UK and among the poorest in Europe. As a doctor, I was shocked to discover that 4,200 Londoners die each year as a result, accounting for seven per cent of all deaths in the capital. Virtually all air pollution in our cities is caused by traffic. In our report we called for the urgent introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone, as proposed in the Mayor’s air quality strategy, which would place tougher restrictions on vehicle emissions.

London Pollution - In pictures

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Since we published our recommendations there has been a marked increase in traffic in London from online delivery vans and Uber cars. Many have diesel engines which produce the highest pollution levels.

We tolerate far too many dirty, ageing vehicles which pump out noxious fumes — current regulations allow vehicles up to 15 years old. Acting to reduce emissions is expensive and the threat has been neglected because poisonous air is invisible. But it is lethal.

The chemical cocktail we draw into our lungs damages blood vessels and affects the heart’s rhythm. Long term exposure is also linked to asthma and lung cancer. Even a small reduction in pollution would have a big impact on health.

We calculated that if annual levels of the tiny specks of particulate matter produced by diesel engines were reduced by just five micrograms per cubic metre it would save 150 lives a year in London and prevent 643 hospital admissions for cardiac and respiratory conditions.

These are not unachievable targets. Nor would they involve major restrictions on transport. But this is not just about preventing deaths. It is also about improving the quality of all our lives. That much we owe our children.

Lord Darzi is a surgeon and director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London. He was a Labour health minister from 2007-09.

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