The British Lung Foundation is asking members of the public to send emails to candidates for the Mayor of London and London Assembly Members requesting that they sign up to the Foundation's Manifesto for Better Lung Health in London.
The Foundation's website has a pre-written email for people to send, with or without their own edits. The pre-written text reads as follows:
I’m writing to you as a candidate in the upcoming London elections to ask you to protect London's lungs.
Please will you sign up to the British Lung Foundation’s manifesto for better lung health in London?
The Manifesto
1. Make London’s transport strategy work for all Londoners
Help reduce health inequalities by extending the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) to cover areas of East London that have high social deprivation and poor air quality.
Ensure that the ULEZ is enforced in a way that doesn’t penalise people with mobility problems (such as people with severe lung disease).
Clean up London’s bus fleet by ensuring any new buses are low emission, and introduce strict new real-world emissions testing for all existing London buses.
Provide viable, zero-emission alternatives to polluting car travel via the further promotion of active travel in London (including extending the network of clean, safe cycle and pedestrianised routes).
Commit to supporting swifter replacement of London’s taxi fleet with low-emission alternatives.
2. Protect young Londoners’ lungs
Support local authorities to protect London’s school children from air pollution, through policies such as anti-idling, walk/cycle to school schemes, stricter planning requirement for new schools, tree and hedge-planting schemes and pollution filters.
Ensure all school buses and coaches are low emission.
Improve access to live pollution maps so that parents/guardians are aware of pollution levels in their area and can map low pollution travel routes
Ensure the ban on smoking in cars carrying children is being appropriately enforced.
3. Help ‘the big smoke’ stop smoking
Ensure all Londoners have access to local smoking cessation support by protecting local services from the threat of budget cuts.
Encourage London’s NHS services to “make every contact count” in the battle against smoking
Support localised smoking cessation campaigns targeted at hard-to-reach groups (such as people from deprived communities and BME groups).
4. Tackle the impact of poor housing on lung health
Update the Mayor’s ‘London Housing Strategy’ to include clauses requiring all new and modernised homes to be designed to minimise exposure to harmful indoor and outdoor air pollution.
5. Ensure Londoners with lung conditions have the NHS services and support they deserve
Support the replacement of all London’s NHS transport with low-emission vehicles.
Carry out an audit and report on the state of London’s Lung Health.
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Let’s make London a city where we can all breathe clean air with healthy lungs.
I hope I can rely on your support.
To send messages to all candidates, visit www.blf.org.uk/take-action/campaign/elections/london.
The background to this campaign, with particular reference to school children, is explained by the British Lung Foundation's Chief Executive, Dr Penny Woods, on the Hippocratic Post medical blogging site:
Poor air quality in London affects everyone. Children and people with lung conditions are particularly at risk of suffering ill health effects.
330,000 London children go to school in areas with illegal pollution levels. Exposure to air pollution increases the risk of lung cancer, impairs child lung development and increases the risk of hospitalisation among people with a pre-existing lung condition.
Our survey of 316 parents and guardians highlighted that more than 40 per cent had noticed ill effects from air pollution on their children’s health. These include: coughing, more frequent respiratory infections, sore throats and watery eyes.
We are the only UK charity fighting to help the one in five people in the UK affected by lung disease. So we’re urging the next Mayor to protect Londoners better, by taking urgent action to tackle illegally high levels of air pollution in the capital, particularly around schools.
Studies show that exposure to high levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, two of the by-products of diesel combustion, can be linked to lung cancer. The majority of this pollution is produced by road traffic in urban areas.
The problem is getting worse. As traffic increases in our capital, and the population expands, new schools are being built on plots squeezed next to busy roads. Worryingly, there are no obligations to measure air quality around schools in the capital. Yes, some local authorities monitor air quality in areas that happen to include schools, but this is coincidental and far from universal. Parents are not informed of local pollution levels, nor are they included in Ofsted reports. We think this needs to change.
If pollution levels were effectively monitored, then these could be taken into account when plans were being drawn up to build new schools. If a school had to be built near a main road, then measures could be taken to ensure that pollution levels were minimised in classrooms. Children and parents deserve to be informed about the best routes they can take to school and about where air pollution is high.
We also need to see public transport cleaned up, by speeding up the introduction of cleaner buses and taxis. We welcome the planned introduction of an ‘Ultra-low emission zone’ in the capital that could significantly improve air quality. But as we’re pointing out, this needs to extend to areas of London with high health inequality such as East London, so that everyone feels the benefit.
Air pollution can be linked to at least 9,500 early deaths every year in London. Given the severity of the problem, immediate action must be taken by the city’s next Mayor to ensure that London is a place where we can all breathe clean air with healthy lungs.
