Sixty years since the 1956 Clean Air Act: Are we really doing enough to reduce air pollution?​

Williams, Ben

Abstract

In the year that the UK’s Clean Air Act turns sixty, the head of public health at the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared air pollution as a global health emergency [1]. Globally, air pollution is responsible for 7 million premature deaths per year [2], equivalent to 1 in 8 of all recorded deaths.

Across Europe, 400,000 deaths were attributed to air pollution in 2012, whilst in the UK over 50,000 deaths per year are due to a combination of gaseous (nitrogen dioxide and ozone) and particulate matter (PM) air pollution [3]. On a local authority scale, approximately 5% of all deaths in England and Wales are linked to air pollution, although, based purely on PM, this is recognised as an underestimate [4].

Air pollution is the greatest environmental health risk facing mankind [5] but in the sixty years since the seminal Clean Air Act 1956 have we really done enough to address this challenge?

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Feb 24, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 24, 2016
• Journal: The International Network of Environmental Forensics Bulletin
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 1
• Keywords: Clean Air Act, air pollution, fumifugium, diesel, particulate matter, NO2
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/924571
• Contract Date: Feb 24, 2016