City’s pollution crisis call
300 Glaswegians die every year from toxic fumes, claims charity
ENVIRONMENTALISTS have called on Scotland’s largest local authority to crack down on traffic emissions after a parliamentary report branded air pollution a “public health crisis” on a par with smoking.
A House of Commons report said new schools, care homes and hospitals should be built far away from major roads because of the toxic gases emitted by vehicles.
Nitrogen dioxide is known to cause inflammation of the airways, reduce lung function and exacerbate asthma while particulate matter - tiny invisible specks of mineral dust, carbon and other chemicals - are also linked to heart and lung diseases as well as cancer. Carbon monoxide, also present in vehicle fumes, is linked in low doses to headaches, depression and flu-like symptoms.
The Environmental Audit Committee slammed the UK Government for failing to tackle the issue of air pollution, which MPs said was a public health crisis responsible for an estimated 29,000 deaths across the UK each year - nearly as many as smoking.
Its report said traffic is responsible for nearly half of all carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide emis- sions and a quarter of particulate matter pollution.
Friends of the Earth Scotland said the report should be a “wake up call” to Glasgow City Council in particular, which has repeatedly reneged on emissions targets despite having the worst rates of air pollution from traffic in Scotland.
Emilia Hanna, air pollution campaigner for FoE Scotland, said: “The report clearly says that Low Emission Zones are needed to stop air pollution, yet in Glasgow, the City Council is about to pass a City Centre Transport Plan which has no plans to introduce Low Emission Zones for another six years.
“With 300 Glaswegians dying every year from air pollution, this is simply not good enough. Air pollution is like passive smoking, people cannot control the toxic fumes they are breathing in, which is why we desperately need action for the sake of our health.”
Mic Starbuck, a 65-year-old asthmatic living in Glasgow, ended up in hospital for three days when exposure to air pollution five years ago brought on an acute and prolonged attack of breathlessness.
He still attends hospital as an outpatient as a result of the incident.
Mr Starbuck added: “Sometimes when I am in town, the air pollution makes it so hard for me to breathe that I have to seek shelter indoors. If I wasn’t receiving regular treatment my life would literally be at risk.”
The parliamentary report comes months after it emerged that both Glasgow and Edinburgh were expected to miss their EU emissions targets, with Glasgow not likely to achieve them now until 2025.
Kieran Wild, Green councillor for Glasgow, said the council’s approach was to “tinker round the edges” instead of confronting the problem head on.
He said: “They do roadside checks to test for emissions levels and they’ve been putting in bus gates in the city centre, but it’s all very much about tinkering round the edges when what we really need are congestion charges and Low Emissions Zones. That’s what I would like to see.”
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “Glasgow has taken a number of innovative steps to improve air quality and reduce air pollution in the city.
“For example, we launched Scotland’s first Statutory Quality Partnership, which requires bus operators to invest in a modern, cleaner fleet; we have introduced electric and low emission vehicles to our own services, and have incentivised the use of electric vehicles by offering free parking. More recently, we introduced a cycle hire scheme.”