London study shows diesel pollution slows growth of children's lungs | Environment

A major study found that pollution by diesel vehicles slows the growth of children's lungs, leaving them damaged for life.

The research, conducted with more than 2,000 schoolchildren in London, is the first of its kind in a city where diesel pollution is an important factor and has consequences for all cities in the world. He also showed that the charges to deter polluting trucks from entering the city reduced air pollution somewhat, but not the damage to children's lungs.

The World Health Organization ranks air pollution, which causes 7 million premature deaths each year, a global public health emergency. Ninety percent of the world's children breathe an unhealthy air. Growing children are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of air and previous research has associated with underweight at birth, infant mortality, obesity and breastfeeding problems. Mental Health.

Most urban areas in the United Kingdom have illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) pollution and the government suffered three legal failures in the face of inadequate plans. The latest government action plan, dubbed "pitiful" by environmental lawyers, revealed that air pollution was even worse than previously feared.

"We are raising a generation of children with reduced lung capacity," said Professor Chris Griffiths, of Queen Mary University in London, who led the research team. "This reflects an auto industry that has deceived the consumer and the central government, which continues not to act decisively to ensure that towns and cities cut traffic. The public really wants a better quality of air and he is right. "

The study, published in Lancet Public Health, found that children's lung capacity was reduced by about 5% when NO₂ the pollution was above legal levels. Pulmonary capacity peaks at age 18 and then declines, Griffiths said. "If your lungs are already smaller than they should be in adulthood, their risk of premature mortality will increase over time," he added.

The researchers said doctors should consider advising parents of children with lung problems to avoid, if possible, living in highly polluted areas or limiting their exposure.

"This new study reveals the terrible legacy of the failure of successive governments to tackle illegal levels of air pollution," said Andrea Lee, of the environmental law firm, ClientEarth. A new stricter and stricter zone (ULEZ), which will extend the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) tax on polluting vehicles for cars, will begin in London in April 2019, but Lee said: also impose at the national level. level."

"We need ministers to implement emergency measures to fight pollution around schools and nurseries and finance the transition to cleaner means of transport, not to wash our hands of the problem and let the care of the local government to settle, "she said.

Samantha Walker, Asthma UK, said: "It is disappointing that LELE in London has not helped to improve children's lung capacity and shows that a fragmented approach to reducing air pollution is not working."

The new study tested the lung capacity of eight to nine year old children from 28 primary schools in East London between 2009 and 2014. It started right after the start of charges in the LEZ and S & # 39 is continued after the hardening of the rules in 2012. Air pollution was reduced on average by 1-2 μg / m3 at the roadside, but at the end of the study, the annual average was still about 70 μg / m3, well above the legal limit of 40 μg / m3.

Referring to the slowdown in lung growth and asthma symptoms, Griffiths said, "It's disappointing not to have had an impact." But he said that it was essential to evaluate public health policies to test their effectiveness, and that the works have the design of the strictest ULEZ.

The results of the study would apply to many cities, said Griffiths: "The air quality in London is bad, but so are other British and European cities, and of course India. and in China, it's notoriously bad.

The Guardian revealed in 2017 that hundreds of thousands of children were exposed to illicit air pollution levels from diesel vehicles installed in schools and nurseries in England and Wales, the United States, and the United States. poorest neighborhoods being the most seriously affected.

The new research presents "many significant assets," including detailed measurements of air pollution and high-quality data on children's respiratory health, according to a commentary in the Lancet Public Health by Hanna Boogaard and Annemoon van Erp, Boston Health Effects Institute, US.

But they noted that it was not possible to include control groups in the study and that NO₂ the reductions were quite low, making it more difficult to establish a link between air pollution and lung development. Nevertheless, a statistically significant link has been shown. California evidence suggests this is a causal link, as the damage to children's lungs decreased as air quality improved between 1994 and 2011.