The Environmental Audit Committee has warned that air pollution on UK streets is contributing to tens of thousands of early deaths each year and the Government is not doing enough to tackle the problem.

A series of witnesses appeared before the committee during January and February including Professor Frank Kelly and Dr Gary Fuller from King’s. According to evidence presented to the inquiry, air pollution could be contributing to as many as 50,000 deaths per year - as it makes asthma worse and exacerbates heart disease and respiratory illness. Averaged across the whole UK population it is estimated that poor air quality is shortening lives by 7-8 months. In pollution hotspots it could be cutting the most vulnerable people's lives short by as much as 9 years. Despite these considerable impacts on public health the committee concluded that very little effort is being put into reducing air pollution levels, compared with efforts to tackle smoking, alcohol misuse and obesity and that a dramatic shift in transport policy is required if air quality is to be improved.

The committee suggested actions to remove the most polluting vehicles from the road, to clean up the vehicles that remain and to encourage smarter choices about transport. Many of the policies needed to reduce transport emissions have the added benefits of tackling climate change by reducing CO2 emissions.

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Item date 30/03/2010