A reminder as to why air pollution is serious

Air pollution is serious, and we were reminded why when, in the first ruling of its kind, air pollution was listed as a cause of death for Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, a nine-year-old girl who tragically passed away due to an asthma attack in 2013. The Coroner’s court reportedly ruled that air pollution “made a material contribution” to her death, disproving an initial 2014 ruling that named “acute respiratory failure” as the cause of death.

The landmark verdict was notable for clean air campaigners who have long recognised the serious issues of pollution at the core of London’s air problems. In fact, it is a nationwide issue of social injustice, with some research indicating that polluted air is significantly more concentrated in Britain’s most deprived areas.

The case of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah clearly demonstrates how ignorance can cause pollution problems to develop unchecked, with fatal consequences. At The Car Emissions Lawyers, we have spent years fighting to hold car manufacturers to account for their alleged violations of emissions regulations, so we are all too familiar with attempts by people in positions of power to get away with dangerous levels of pollutant production.

Air pollution is serious everywhere – especially in urban areas

The problem of huge amounts of air pollution is serious. It means that the prevalence of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NOx) particulate matter and sulphur dioxide can be severely high, and can be capable of causing significant damage to public health and the environment.

The pollution induced by London congestion has been a concern for several years now, with current Mayor Sadiq Khan introducing an Ultra-Low Emission Zone to London in April 2019. The government has not sought to implement large-scale action so far, but a government spokesperson did come forward with a promise to deliver “a £3.8bn plan to clean up transport and tackle NO2 air pollution”, according to the BBC.

The impact of air pollution

Air pollution can cause health problems in any one of us, but especially in cases where a person suffers from a chronic condition such as asthma. Public Health England reportedly estimated that long-term exposure to man-made air pollution can have an annual effect of 28,000 to 36,000 deaths in the UK alone. The conditions that have been linked to exposure to air pollution include coronary heart disease, strokes, asthma, and lung cancer.

If this does not serve to show that air pollution is serious, what will?

Pollution and the Car Emissions Lawyers

At the Car Emissions Lawyers, we have been at the forefront of group actions against several car manufacturers in response to the numerous emissions scandals over recent years, pioneering the first notable High Court action against Volkswagen in England and Wales. The manufacturers in question have been suspected of using technology such as ‘defeat devices’ that could potentially allow vehicles to pass emissions tests despite the fact they may be producing levels of NOx that could exceed the regulatory limits.

As we have outlined above, air pollution is serious which is why such regulations are in place for very good reasons. It is worrying to think that some car manufacturers may have been covertly exacerbating air pollution problems for many years.

Our concern about the risks to human health and the environment have fuelled our legal efforts to recover compensation for consumers who have unknowingly purchased cars that may contain defeat device technology. We know that most car owners would not knowingly contribute to the UK’s air pollution crisis, and we believe that claiming in our car emissions actions can not only compensate each owner for alleged misinformed purchase, but also helps to make emission non-compliance a thing of the past.

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