The Live Wire



Press Release

Air pollution takes six month off people's lives, conference told

26 September 2011

Air pollution reduces life expectancy in the UK by six months (http://comeap.org.uk) delegates were told today at a conference organised by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) to mark the first World Environmental Health Day.

Commenting, David Kidney, CIEH Head of Policy:

“Air pollution is an invisible killer – you may not always see it but it can have a very detrimental impact on someone's health and often affects some of the most vulnerable members of our community such as the old, the very young and the disabled.

“The UK has some of the most polluted cities in Western Europe. In 2008 nearly 29,000 lives were cut short due to air pollution and London alone accounted for 4000 (www.cieh.org/media/world-environmental-health-day.html) lives in this figure.

“Poor air quality, both indoor and outdoor, is a major cause of ill health and can cause asthma and even death. This important landmark event will also promote the lifesaving work of environmental health practitioners (EHPs) in reducing air pollution.

“Environmental health practitioners (EHPs) work on the front line when it comes to improving air quality. They monitor air quality conditions for dangerous levels of pollutants and relay information to the public to enable them to avoid the most polluted places. With greater backing, they can do even more to reduce levels of pollution, guide people to avoid the worst effects and support good quality planning and policy decision-making.

“The CIEH is actively participating in World Environmental Health Day on 26 September in order to raise public awareness about the public health implications of air pollution. There are events in London and around the UK on World Environmental Health Day themed around indoor and outdoor air quality. It plans to reach thousands of people with advice and information on how to avoid the ill-health effects of air pollution.”

The conference heard presentations by a number of speakers including Kulveer Ranger, London Mayor's adviser and Robert Vaughan from DEFRA.



Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to Central Lobby. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the Central Lobby service.

As such, Central Lobby does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.

More from Dods

© Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd