Medical organisations are pressing the government to set new targets for reducing air pollution – after it missed a deadline last month.
The revelation is the latest problem as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appears in Egypt to pledge the UK’s committee to the COP27 Conference and tackling climate change.
According to six royal colleges of medicine, the UK had promised to set its air quality targets by 31 October.
They have now written to the new environment secretary Thérèse Coffey, former Health Secretary, calling on her to publish the targets.
The letter is signed by the colleges of physicians, emergency medicine, psychiatrists, paediatrics, obstetricians and GPs along with the British Medical Association.
They wrote: “Monday (31 October 2022) should have been a day for the UK to be a world leader in its efforts to reduce the health impacts of toxic air and air pollution which disproportionately affect the most deprived UK communities.
“Air quality has a major impact on human health across the entire life course from conception to old age. A joint report from the Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in 2016 estimated that the equivalent of 40,000 deaths is attributable to outdoor air pollution alone every year in the UK.
“It is almost two years since air pollution exposure was listed as a cause of death for the first time in the UK following the inquest into the death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah.”
Meanwhile the World Health Organization issued a “grim” reminder that the climate crisis is putting lives in jeopardy and increasing levels of sickness.
Director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “Climate change is making millions of people sick or more vulnerable to disease all over the world and the increasing destructiveness of extreme weather events disproportionately affects poor and marginalized communities.
“It is crucial that leaders and decision makers come together at COP27 to put health at the heart of the negotiations.”
Medicins Sans Frontières and the International Committee of the Red Cross also issued a joint call to the COP27 conference to ensure the world’s governments meet their commitments on climate change.
Stephen Cornish, Director General of MSF Switzerland, said: “Today, needs are already outstripping the response. This is a crisis of solidarity and it is now giving way to a crisis of morality. The world cannot leave those suffering the most tragic consequences without support.”
Leave a Reply