Clean Air Now
24th June 2024
Our analysis of data from hospital trusts across London has revealed that more than 15,000 children under 5 were admitted to hospitals across London in 2023 with serious breathing difficulties. Across England as a whole, 15,328 children aged 19 or under were admitted into hospital for serious asthma attacks alone, according to Public Health England figures from 2022/23. For London, the figure is 2,705.
Photo credit: Ray Malone
Our volunteers have been hanging baby grows with "Clean Air Now" printed on them in high air pollution areas across London, to highlight the scale of our children's respiratory problems.
Photos of our volunteers in Lambeth, Croydon, Havering, Brent, Haringey, Hackney and Greenwich. Credits: Crispin Hughes, Oasis Ryelands School, Chris Harvey, Jonathan Goldberg, Ray Malone, Tom Price, Crispin Hughes and Patty Gambini.
The health effects of air pollution
Despite policies to clean up our air in recent years, air pollution monitors across the capital continue to show high levels of some of the most dangerous forms of pollution, including nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM 2.5).
Due to the small size of many of the particles some of these toxins may enter the bloodstream and be transported around the body, lodging in the heart, brain and other organs. Exposure to PM 2.5 can result in serious health impacts, especially in vulnerable groups of people such as the young and elderly.
Short-term exposure to concentrations of NO2 can cause inflammation of the airways and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections and allergens. NO2 can exacerbate the symptoms of those already suffering from lung or heart conditions.
Our campaign was featured as the leading item on BBC London News, and as Dr Anna Moore says in the clip,
"It’s incontrovertible, there is no doubt that the levels of pollution we’re seeing now are causing asthma in children".
We need a diesel-free England
We have written to the main political party leaders Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer calling for them to discourage people from buying diesel vehicles and to set a target for England to be diesel-free by 2030, with limited exemptions, alongside action on wood burning and creating more School Streets, which restrict car use at drop off and pick up.
Our next government must do more to ensure that no child has to grow up breathing polluted air.