Air pollution is ‘public health crisis’, doctors warn

The threat to health caused by air pollution is far greater than previously understood and requires urgent and ambitious action, the Royal College of Physicians has warned.

Affecting almost every organ in the body, air pollution is a serious and avoidable health risk that could contribute to 30,000 deaths in 2025 alone, a report from the college said.

It also costs the UK more than £27bn a year in terms of healthcare, productivity losses and reduced quality of life.

Studies have provided new evidence on a range of health impacts from toxic air, including foetal development and risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, mental health conditions and dementia, the report noted.

With no safe level of air pollutants, the RCP called on the Government to ‘recognise air pollution as a key public health issue’ and be more ambitious in its policy.

The report also pointed to growing concerns around indoor air pollution with poor ventilation, damp and mould, and emissions from domestic heating, gas cooking and household products all contributing significantly to poor health.

It is the most deprived communities who typically contribute least to emissions who suffer the worst health outcomes from air pollution, it added.

This can be seen in the cases of 9-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah from London who died from asthma in 2013 with an inquest ruling pollution was an important contributory factor and Awaab Ishak, aged 2 years, who died from a respiratory infection caused my mould in his home in Rochdale.

The RCP has called on the Government to tackle pollution at source, including emissions from wood burning, agriculture, transport and indoor pollutants

But to also work towards the delivery of the World Health Organization’s 2021 Global Air Quality Guidelines on air pollution levels.

A UK-wide public health campaign is needed on air pollution to give accurate and trusted information and practical advice, it recommended.

And the NHS should share data and evidence to help track progress, the RCP said.

Dr Mumtaz Patel, RCP president, said air pollution is ‘a public health crisis’.

‘We are losing tens of thousands of lives every year to something that is mostly preventable. And the financial cost is a price we simply cannot afford to keep paying. There is no safe level of air pollution. The government must act now to protect our health.’

Report lead Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, RCP special adviser on air quality, UKRI clean air champion and clinical professor of immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton, added the science showed air pollution is a major driver of disease across the life course – from low birth weight and childhood asthma to heart attacks and dementia.

‘It must be recognised and treated as a public health issue. The cost of inaction is measured not only in lives lost, but in people not being able to live healthily and in billions drained from our economy every year.’

Already this year, GPs in England have dealt with 45,458 patients with chronic asthma exacerbations – 45% higher than for the same period last year, the RCGP recently warned, while calling for more action to tackle pollution.

A Government spokesperson said: ‘Air pollution is a public health issue, and we are committed to tackling this issue across the country.

‘We have already provided £575m to support Local Authorities to improve air quality and are developing a series of interventions to reduce emissions so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced.’