Cleaner air will save lives – and the NHS

THE future of the NHS in Wales and elsewhere (Western Mail, June 11) is bleak because many politicians still seem unable to grasp the fact that air pollution levels control lifeexpectancy.

This is despite news reports such as on ITV News, April 28, 2018:

“An estimated 50 million years of human life could be lost in the UK if action is not taken to reduce air pollution, scientists have said.

“A study led by King’s College London suggests that by meeting targets set out by the Climate Change Act, nitrogen dioxide air pollution could be cut by 50-60%, leading to improved public health and longer life expectancy.”

If they look at the first page of the report Geographical Trends in Infant Mortality: England and Wales, 1970–2006 (Health Stat Q; 2008 Winter; (40): 18-29), they’ll see the following in the introduction: “The reduction in infant mortality has been cited as the single greatest factor contributing to increased life expectancy over the past 100 years”, and this at the start of the abstract: “At national level in England and Wales, infant mortality rates fell rapidly from the early 1970s and into the 1980s.”

Here in Shropshire, the Ironbridge Power Station was the dominant point-source of industrial air pollution and Telford & Wrekin’s (T&W) high infant mortality rates were “explained away” by citing lower socio-economic status, or deprivation.

T&W’s infant mortality rate fell from 6.8 per 1,000 live births in 2015 to 2.4 per 1,000 in 2016 (ONS data), ie a 65% reduction in the first year after Ironbridge Power Station ceased operating in late October 2015.

There wasn’t a massive upgrade in socio-economic status in T&W from 2015-16, but the inhabitants were less “deprived” of clean air. Michael Ryan Shrewsbury