XPost: 24hoursupport.helpdesk, alt.politics.scorched-earth, uk.politics.misc   
   XPost: uk.legal, alt.politics.uk   
   From: burfordTjustice@tues.uk   
      
   LOL Apparently the UK is behind on the man made global warming curve...   
   Pollution is every where.   
   A good start would be to Ban fire places and diesels and smoking   
   tobacco.   
      
      
    London (AFP) - Gone are the days of London's "pea souper"   
   smogs, but like many European cities, the British capital is once again   
   being choked by pollution -- and has road traffic firmly in its sights.   
      
   In 1952, the Great Smog suffocated London for five days, bringing the city to   
   a standstill as soot-filled clouds descended onto the streets and into   
   people's lungs, leaving more than 12,000 dead.   
      
   The crisis prompted a clampdown on the use of coal in the city -- but decades   
   on, pollution is still causing more than 9,000 premature deaths per year.   
      
   This time, the key culprit is nitrogen dioxide (NO2), produced by cars and   
   trucks -- and particularly diesel engines, which emit three times more NO2   
   than petrol vehicles.   
      
   "Industry... is part of the problem, but the focus, the problem areas are next   
   to roads," Gary Fuller, a senior lecturer in air quality measurement at King's   
   College London, told AFP.   
      
   London Mayor Sadiq Khan is on a personal mission to deal with the "lethal" air   
   in the city, after blaming pollution for his adult-onset asthma.   
      
   This week he announced plans for new charges for diesel cars and older petrol   
   vehicles, which could see drivers pay £24 (28 euros, $30) a day to enter   
   central London by 2019.   
      
   But the issue is not just confined to the city centre, or indeed to the   
   capital itself.   
      
   "The NO2 limit value is exceeded in many major cities up and down the   
   country," Fuller said.   
      
   - Schools, nurseries affected -   
      
   More than 40,000 British deaths a year are attributable to exposure to outdoor   
   air pollution, according to a survey last year by the Royal College of   
   Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.   
      
   It warned that air pollution plays a role in many of the major health   
   challenges of our day, linked to everything from asthma to cancer, obesity and   
   even dementia.   
      
   It can have a particularly damaging effect on children -- and many of London's   
   youngest residents are exposed, day after day, according to a new study by   
   environmental NGO Greenpeace.   
      
   The data suggests that more than 1,000 nurseries in England are located next   
   to roads where pollution exceeds legal limits -- and another 1,000 schools and   
   colleges.   
      
   "Children are extremely vulnerable to its effects, and it can cause   
   long-lasting health impacts and reduced lung function," said activist Anna   
   Jones.   
      
   Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative government is already under pressure   
   over its response to deteriorating air quality.   
      
   Last year, ministers lost a legal challenge at the High Court against their   
   air quality action plan. New proposals are due by April 24.   
      
   In February, Britain was also among five EU member countries warned by the   
   European Commission to address repeated breaches of air pollution limits for   
   nitrogen dioxide.   
      
   Khan has already promised to ease out of circulation diesel buses and taxis,   
   and will in October introduce a new £10 daily "toxicity charge", or T-charge,   
   for the worst polluting vehicles in central London.   
      
   He has now announced plans for a new £12.50 charge by 2019 for diesel cars   
   more than four years old and for petrol cars more than 13 years old.   
      
   This is in addition to the £11.50 existing "congestion charge".   
      
   Other major European cities are taking similar measures -- and Fuller, of   
   King's College London, said that aside from cutting pollution, there could be   
   other beneficial side effects.   
      
   "This can tackle things like climate change, noise and importantly if we can   
   get people walking, cycling... then you can tackle the problem have in lack of   
   exercise," he said.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)