The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has warned that air pollution in the UK has become a "public health crisis", with 99% of people breathing "toxic air" and predicting that about 30,000 people will die from air pollution this year, with economic costs of up to 50 billion pounds.
According to a new report from the RCP, there is no "safe level" of air pollution, which has a negative impact on almost every organ in the human body, the British Independent reported. The report warns that although toxic gas emissions have been greatly reduced in recent decades, even low concentrations of air pollution can affect fetal development and cause the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, mental health conditions and dementia.
The report estimates that air pollution causes an economic loss of 27 billion pounds each year in medical costs and productivity losses, and if diseases such as dementia are taken into account, the losses will be as high as 50 billion pounds.
On the 19th, more than 100 doctors, nurses, patients and activists marched from Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital to Downing Street and handed in a letter calling on the government to commit to higher air quality targets.
Dr Mumtaz Patel, chair of the RCP, said air pollution could no longer be seen as just an environmental issue. "We need to take clean air as seriously as we take clean water and safe food," he said. "It is a fundamental human right and a vital investment in our economic future."
In the report's foreword, England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said air pollution remained the most important environmental threat to health, with impacts throughout a person's life. "Air pollution affects everyone and everyone is connected."
Exposure to polluted air reduces life expectancy by 1.8 years, the report said, second only to some of the leading causes of death and disease worldwide, such as cancer and smoking.
A 2022 study by the Health Security Agency estimated that air pollution kills between 29,000 and 43,000 people a year in adults over 30 in the UK.
The report also noted that exposure to air pollution in the UK was unevenly distributed, with cities mainly affected by traffic pollution, while rural areas were mainly related to specific activities such as solid fuel or wood burning, agriculture, road transport or bushfires.
According to a study commissioned by London City Hall in 2023, ethnic minorities and the poorest households are most likely to live in areas of London with the worst air pollution.
A survey by the charity Asthma and Lung UK showed that one in five people with lung disease suffer from life-threatening asthma attacks and severe illness due to air pollution. More than half of the 8,000 British lung disease patients surveyed said that air pollution made them feel short of breath. For this reason, the organization called for stricter clean air laws.
