Pollution plague

Responding to Thursday’s high air pollution episode, I would like to point out air pollution kills tens of thousands of people prematurely in the UK every year, and puts extra pressure on our overstretched NHS.

Ministers must protect our health by acting urgently on the main cause of air pollution, which is too much dirty traffic.

Plans for new roads will make things worse. We need to see less traffic and more walking, cycling and public transport use. This will improve health and enable us all to breathe more easily.

Action on air pollution will also help us to stop dangerous climate change – the UK should focus on this rather than giving its support to dirty oil and gas projects that threaten our climate and pollute our air.

Brenda Pollack

south east campaigner

Friends of the Earth

Clapham Road

London

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