FIGHTING INVISIBLE THREAT TO OUR KIDS

36,000 each year thought to die early Quarter breathe toxins in school air

DEADLY traffic pollution on Coronation Street is set to land Maria Windass’s son Liam in hospital with a lifethreatening asthma attack.

Tomorrow’s dramatic storyline will lead to a campaign by the 12-year-old’s terrified mum to cut traffic on the cobbles – even taking a crowbar to the Underworld factory van.

But the threat of air pollution is no fiction.

It causes up to 36,000 early deaths every year, with the damage to health starting in childhood.

Figures released this week by London’s City Hall show 98% of schools in the capital are in areas where air pollution is higher than limits specified by the World Health Organization.

Elsewhere in the UK, around a quarter of children are breathing in toxins such as particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide whenHEALTH they attend school.

Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, which advised Corrie scriptwriters, say air pollution is the biggest threat to public health – yet UK law still allows levels higher than WHO recommendations.

Air pollution expert Kate Langford,

Millions are forced to breathe dangerous pollution KATE LANGFORD CAMPAIGNER

of research group Impact on Urban Health, insists the problem “is not an inevitable part of life”.

She said: “Liam’s story on Coronation Street is a reminder to the Government and businesses to prioritise this health crisis.

“It’s unacceptable that millions of people in the UK are forced to breathe dangerously polluted air.”

Just like Samia Longchambon’s character Maria, parents and children around the country are waking up to the invisible threat and taking action.

Here, we speak to four of them about their campaigns to clean up our air.

If you are worried about air pollution affecting you or your child, or are concerned your child may have asthma, contact Asthma UK on 0300 222 5800, by WhatsApp 07378 606728 or visit asthma.org.uk. You can also visit the British Lung Foundation’s Clean Air Hub at blf.org.uk/takeaction/clean-air.

NEAR DEATH Maria and Liam in Coronation St