Air pollution in England poses the greatest environmental risk to public health according to government reports. Yet much of the general public still regard it as a relatively minor annoyance, akin to small quantities of dumped household waste on street corners. We believe it is high time we dispelled this illusion and acquainted ourselves with the facts.
Air Pollution in England Kills 30,000 Annually
The UK government website says the annual air pollution kill rate in UK is 28,000 to 36,000 deaths every year. Thus it’s fair to assume air pollution in England contributes at least 30,000 towards this. This costs the National Health Service we pay for through our taxes some £1.6 billion annually.
This is considerably more than the cost of clearing away the detritus of fly tipping, not to mention the garbage some house clearance services spill. Perhaps people overlook air pollution because the fine particulate matter that causes the damage could fit inside a human hair.
How Our Health Suffers from Air Pollution
Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. As well as lung cancer leading to reduced life expectancy. But even in the short term it can affect our lung function leading to severe asthma. And also to a higher rate of respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions, and deaths too.
I shouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that the impact of air pollution in England is higher in Greater London suburbs like Beckenham and Mitcham because of their denser urban footprint. And yet I hardly see any evidence of law enforcement prosecuting offenders as I go about my daily business.
What Is Air Pollution and How Does It Work
Air pollution is complex blend of gases, and tiny, air-borne particles in the atmosphere. It enters our lungs when we inhale, and so we are wide-open to damage from fine particulate matter. The main high-risk industrial / urban pollutants include:
- Ammonia, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide.
- Non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs).
- Other outdoor air pollutants such as ozone and carbon monoxide.
This ambient air pollution is an unfortunate by-product of transportation, industrial processing, farming, energy generation and domestic heating. The concentration varies, but nitrogen dioxide can be particularly high near industrial areas.
But Let’s Not Forget Indoor Air Pollution in England
We may fuss and bother about fly tipping in England and household waste dumping, without realising we have an air pollution problem in our homes too. No matter where we are, from Beckenham to Mitcham and further beyond residents and workers are inhaling particulate matter:
- Carbon oxides, nitrogen oxides, and fumes from boilers, heaters, fires, stoves and ovens burning fuels containing carbon.
- Organic compounds from cleaning, personal care, and household consumer products (paints, carpets, laminate furniture, etc.)
And then there’s also cancer-causing tobacco smoke and the second-hand smoke non-smokers inhale. It’s quite scarey when we think of it!
Significant Health Risks of Air Pollution
The impact of indoor and outdoor pollution on humans is not a straight-line relationship. That’s because it depends on the dose and duration, and that in turn depends on law enforcement and prosecution of offences. Moreover, other demographic factors include age, sex, diet, family traits, lifestyle and state of health.
The UK government publication we linked to earlier, goes on to explain where the air pollution we inhale has the greatest effect. Not unsurprisingly, our eyes, noses and throats are in the front line. Although our hearts, associated blood vessels, lungs, and respiratory systems generally also take a knock.
- Short-term exposure over hours or days can affect our lung function, as well as cause coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. We may also experience more severe asthma, and increase our risk of respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions and even death.
- But longer timescales of years, or lifetimes of exposure can reduce our life spans quite considerably. But we may ascribe this to cardiovascular or respiratory disease, or lung cancer although the root cause was actually air pollution in England and beyond
- Recent research associates air pollution with brain deterioration leading to dementia and cognitive decline. Other reports add diabetes and early life syndromes such as low birth weight and developmental problems in childhood to the mix.
Small Things Can Make a Difference
We probably shouldn’t wait for our government to sort this out. But we can do something about this at the individual level, because air pollution in England is a byproduct of our life style. We do what we can at Avery Associates and are quite proud of our customer feedback.
Read Avery Associates Reviews Here
We’re extremely pleased with the house clearance service that Jeffrey provided. This was a daunting and emotionally difficult task for us but Jeffrey was sensitive and polite throughout the process and he and his team did a fantastic job clearing the house efficiently and exactly to our requirements. Many thanks for a really great service, would totally recommend (Tim and Chris)
