WHO have set an annual mean target of 5 ugm3 for Particulates (PM2.5) and WHO states “Exceedance of the air quality guideline levels is associated with important risks to public health”.
What has been the government’s response? As it happens the Environment Bill is going through Parliament and they are currently out to consultation on what the targets should be – their suggestion a target of 10 ugm3 by 2040!Note the consultation closes 27th June
So, they propose a target that is twice the WHO standard to be met in a generation. Why does air pollution have such a low priority in Britain? In part because there has been a marked political reluctance to change policy and behaviours – failures include:
a. Deregulation of buses outside London which led to a steep fall in bus use.
b. The lack of cheap, reliable and extensive mass transport in most cities outside London.
c. A failure to develop active transport including dedicated integrated cycle lanes in towns and cities
d. Failure to regulate or ban wood burning stoves which now account for 40% of PM2.5 emissions and which continue to grow in use.
The Ostrava Declaration was signed by governments and commits them to a series of actions including:
“to consider equity, social inclusion and gender equality in our policies on the environment and health, also with respect to access to natural resources and to the benefits of ecosystems”;
“improving indoor and outdoor air quality for all, as one of the most important environmental risk factors in the Region, through actions to meet the values of the WHO air quality guidelines in a continuous process of improvement”;
“to actively support open, transparent and relevant research on established and emerging environment and health risks in order to strengthen the evidence-base to guide policy-making and preventative action.”
As such the WHO has co-ordinated a range of experts to meet and support the above commitments.
Environmental Health Inequalities in Europe: Second Assessment Report
Systematic Reviews
Teams of international experts were asked to carry out systematic reviews on a number of themes. Working with a team of colleagues in Germany we looked at air quality and social inequalities in the region.
Main findings of the systematic review into air quality
There is good evidence from ecological studies that higher deprivation indices and low economic position are usually linked with higher levels of pollutants such as particulate matter (particulate matter under 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter, PM2.5, PM10) and oxides of nitrogen (e.g., NO2, and NOx). There is also evidence that ethnic minorities experience a mixed exposure in comparison to the majority population being sometimes higher and sometimes lower depending on the ethnic minority under consideration. The studies using data at the individual level in this review are mainly focused on pregnant women or new mothers, in these studies deprivation and ethnicity are more likely to be linked to higher exposures of poor air quality. Therefore, there is evidence in this review that the burden of higher pollutants falls disproportionally on different social groups.
Here is a short film about the paper
References – open access and free
Fairburn, J.; Schüle, S.A.; Dreger, S.; Karla Hilz, L.; Bolte, G. Social Inequalities in Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution: A Systematic Review in the WHO European Region. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2019, 16, 3127. htt://mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/17/3127
Other systematic reviews in the series
The other four systematic reviews in the series are available open access:
The resource package explains key concepts and terms associated with the concept of environmental health inequalities and aims to support actions against disparities in exposure to environmental risk at the national and subnational level. The document presents methods for monitoring and assessment and suggests ways to use this evidence for action. It also provides information on a range of tools and guidance documents for those tackling environmental inequalities and striving to improve health and health equity.
About the author
I have been working in the area of environmental inequalities/environmental justice for over 20 years. If you are interested in this subject you can also follow me on twitter @ProfJonFairburn where I also maintain a specific air quality list. You can find my other publications in this area on our eprints system and on my google scholar profile.
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