London Air Quality - Pollution

Breaking News: 'Client Earth pollution case goes to Europe after Supreme Court victory'

Client Earth CEO James Thornton said the ruling would force the Government to come up with a plan to improve air quality.

“The Supreme Court recognised that this case has broader implications for EU environmental law: the Government can’t flout environmental law with impunity. If the Government breaks the law, citizens can demand justice and the courts must act,” he added.

.. and from Air Quality News,

[

Commenting on Defra’s work on air quality, Mrs Arnold told the conference: “The overall issue is that we do not think Defra is not doing very much to tackle air quality. We met with Lord De Mauley [Defra secretary] in January this year which we found very disappointing as he did not think that air quality fit in with the government’s economic growth agenda.”
](http://www.airqualitynews.com/2013/04/19/low-emission-zones-part-of-answer-to-air-pollution/)

4,000 premature deaths per year.

That's a pretty mind-blowing number.

How does it compare to obesity, smoking etc?

80,000 a year in England from smoking.

9,000 from alcohol.

1,200 from drugs.

i agree, air is quality stuff

^^ But comparing like that is a bit silly, as it ignores how premature the deaths are.

Is there an "early death person years" metric?

This is a good resource on London air quality/health
http://www.londonair.org.uk/LondonAir/guide/HealthEffects.aspx

^^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability-adjusted_life_year

The UN Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 is probably what you want if you want to compare the causes of death and disease. Of course it's mad complicated, because it's a complicated topic.

in London you get more or less exposed to the poluted air?

Compared with what?
Hopping in the arctic circle?
Inhaling coal dust in downtown Beijing?

in London you get more or less exposed to the poluted air?

Yes, you do.

in London you get more or less exposed to the poluted air?

No you don't

in London you get more or less exposed to the poluted air?

you might, but probably will, although maybe you won't

Pollution's higher inside cars than outside. There's a theory violent crime has fallen in tandem with the removal of lead from petrol.

there's also a theory that the smell of bread makes people happier

Pollution's higher inside cars than outside.

Only in a mini cab.

At first it seemed preposterous. The hypothesis was so exotic that I laughed. The rise and fall of violent crime during the second half of the 20th century and first years of the 21st were caused, it proposed, not by changes in policing or imprisonment, single parenthood, recession, crack cocaine or the legalisation of abortion, but mainly by … lead.
I don't mean bullets. The crime waves that afflicted many parts of the world and then, against all predictions, collapsed, were ascribed, in an article published by Mother Jones last week, to the rise and fall in the use of lead-based paint and leaded petrol.
It's ridiculous – until you see the evidence. Studies between cities, states and nations show that the rise and fall in crime follows, with a roughly 20-year lag, the rise and fall in the exposure of infants to trace quantities of lead. But all that gives us is correlation: an association that could be coincidental. The Mother Jones article, which is based on several scientific papers, claimed causation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/07/violent-crime-lead-poisoning-british-export

Behavioural effects were first documented in 1943: infants who had tragically chewed the leaded paint off the railings of their cots were found, years after they had recovered from acute poisoning, to be highly disposed to aggression and violence.

This is a good resource on London air quality/health
http://www.londonair.org.uk/LondonAir/guide/HealthEffects.aspx

It is now believed that the long term health effects of air pollution are larger than the short term effects.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/218/530/wtf_is_this_shit_Very_Disturbing_Childrens_Book_RE_We_dont_say_ampquotGermanampquot_in_America-s400x297-59009.jpg?1324142033

It's the PM10's that are the problem, tiny particles that nestle in young or fragile lungs.

You'll probably be alright in cycling in London and considering that the world is a horrible place full of other, bigger health concerns, pollution is the least of your worries. At worst you may be caught cycling behind a sputtering off-white Transit and inhale as it accelerates - this won't taste nice but probably won't hurt you much either. Unless you have asthma.

Besides, in the global perspective London pollution is mild. In poorer countries where MOT laws would empty the roads and destroy economies (as nobody could afford to maintain their car) any/every knob can drive a black cloud machine all day long. Indeed one bus overtook another today, just ahead of me. I lost sight of this accelerating bus and then the entire road as everything was engulfed in thick, swirling black fumes. Despite my defence of squinting and holding my breath through five long seconds of opaque air, I still left the other side with incompletely combusted smoke particulates abusing my nasal cavities. I get this every 2km or so and I don't think it's really damaging. But I guess I'll find out.

Is farting in your house good for you ? I think so as it makes you laugh and laughing is a form of good exercise!

20 years ago I met a doctor on a train. He told me that when you cut people open to look at their lungs it is impossible to distinguish a smoker from a Londoner. I don't know if he was telling the truth.

Did he used to cut open only Londoners who were frequenting pubs pre smoking ban?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jun/24/north-circular-air-pollution-london