XPost: 24hoursupport.helpdesk, alt.politics.scorched-earth, uk.politics.misc   
   XPost: uk.legal, alt.politics.uk   
   From: burfordTjustice@tues.uk   
      
   The UN has spoken..time to fix shit.   
      
   Britain’s air quality threatens children’s lives, says UN rapporteur   
      
      
   There is an urgent need for the Government to protect children and   
   other at-risk groups from the air pollution “crisis” which causes   
   serious health problems, special rapporteur on hazardous substances and   
   wastes Baskut Tuncak says.   
      
   At the end of a visit to the UK at the invitation of the Government, Mr Tuncak   
   also warned that Brexit could put human rights, including the protection from   
   toxic pollution, at risk.   
       
   “The forthcoming plan for Brexit should ensure that it does not open a   
   Pandora’s Box, freeing the way for deregulation and posing a threat of   
   regression from existing standards of protection,” he said.   
      
   Despite Government assurances it would maintain current European Union   
   standards on human rights and environmental protections through the Great   
   Repeal Act, the UN rapporteur said he did not find evidence they would be kept   
   in place.   
      
   “I was told of a political commitment to maintain standards of environmental   
   and public health protections but nothing in the prime minister’s speeches   
   which I heard and saw gave any such indication.   
      
   “I was pointed to statements I couldn’t find, I was pointed to political   
   commitments that weren’t clearly explained.”   
      
   I encourage the UK government to fulfil its human rights obligations on air   
   pollution   
      
   Special rapporteur, Baskut Tuncak   
      
   The UK’s pivot towards the US, which does not recognise the same rights,   
   also raises concerns.   
      
   Mr Tuncak’s visit coincided with record levels of air pollution in London   
   and he warned that paediatricians have described the impact of air pollutants   
   on children’s health as a “silent pandemic”.   
      
   He said: “Children don’t only suffer from disabilities and diseases during   
   childhood that may be linked to air pollution, these disabilities and diseases   
   extend into adulthood.”   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)