Girl’s asthma death first to be linked to ‘illegal air pollution levels’
A NINE YEAR-OLD girl’s fatal asthma attack is the first death to be linked directly to air pollution.
A Government health adviser said there was a “striking association” between the times that Ella Kissi-debrah was admitted to hospital in an emergency, and spikes of nitrogen dioxide and PM10S, the most noxious pollutants, near her home.
Ella lived just 80ft from London’s South Circular Road – a pollution “hotspot” – and in the three years before her death in February 2013 she went to hospital 27 times. An inquest found she died from acute respiratory failure, after suffering from years of seizures.
Her family has launched a legal bid to have the conclusion overturned, citing a report by Prof Stephen Holgate, an asthma and air pollution expert.
His report, according to the BBC, said there was a “real prospect that without unlawful levels of air pollution, Ella would not have died”.
Prof Holgate, from University Hospital Southampton, chaired the Government’s advisory committee on the effects of air pollution. He wrote: “Unlawful levels of air pollution contributed to the cause and seriousness of Ella’s asthma in a way that greatly compromised her quality of life and was causative of her fatal asthma attack.”
He drew evidence from a Government-monitored air pollution monitoring station in Catford, a mile from Ella’s house, and another three miles from her home. It indicated that spikes in air pollution coincided with all but one of Ella’s hospital admissions, and that she died after one of the “worst air pollution episodes in her locality”.
Prof Holgate believes her cause of death should be recorded as acute respiratory failure and severe asthma secondary to air pollution exposure.
His evidence will be submitted in an appeal to the Attorney General to reopen the inquest into Ella’s death.
Speaking to the BBC, Rosamund Adoo-kissi-debrah, her mother, said Ella would often walk along the road to school and was first taken to hospital in 2010 after a coughing fit that followed a spike in air pollution levels.
“I need to find out for myself why she died and what the causes are,” Mrs Adoo-kissi-debrah said. “I need this for my other children, in order to protect their health.
“I also believe there is a public interest in examining her death because if this direct link were made then the health of our children would have to be prioritised over other considerations including the convenience of drivers.” Jocelyn Cockburn, a human rights lawyer acting on behalf of the family, said: “Ella’s case illustrates the hard-hitting human impact of air pollution.”
According to a Government report published in 2018, poor air quality has been classified as the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK.
The Attorney General’s office said: “In considering whether to grant his consent to an application, the Attorney General must be satisfied that there is a reasonable prospect of the application succeeding in the High Court.”