Following a high air pollution episode last week, Islington residents took to the streets at the weekend to install air pollution measuring tubes on roadsides across the borough. These tubes measure nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air which is linked to a range of respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses that are particularly harmful to children, older people and those with existing health conditions such as asthma and heart and lung conditions. Road vehicle emissions, and particularly diesel engines, are major contributors to NO2 in the air.
A report from King’s College London on behalf of Transport for London and the Greater London Authority last July showed that up to 250 deaths can be attributed to air pollution in Islington every year.(1)
The tubes, part of a citizen science project run in collaboration with Mapping for Change and Kings College London, have been placed throughout Islington and will remain in place for four weeks in order to measure the levels of NO2 that residents and visitors are exposed to every day. Many of the diffusion tubes have been placed outside the borough’s schools in order to gather information on how air pollution may be affecting the health of Islington’s children who are amongst those most at risk of suffering negative health effects from NO2 pollution.
Cllr Caroline Russell, who is also a Green Party candidate for the London Assembly, said: “This is a public health emergency for Islington with figures from the Greater London Authority estimating that up to 250 deaths each year in our borough are directly attributable to filthy air. If the same number of people died due to traffic collisions or any other cause, there would be an outcry and immediate action. We are resorting to ‘citizen science’ to show that our roads, schools and communities are being exposed to dangerously high levels of nitrogen dioxide. We want our borough-wide experiment to act as yet another wake-up call to Islington Council and TfL that they must do more to clean up our air and protect our health.
Thirty NO2 diffusion tubes have been placed on roadsides and in public spaces and will be sent for laboratory analysis. The results will be available towards the end of February. Under EU rules, roads are only allowed to breach hourly limits of 200 micrograms of NO2 per cubic metre of air 18 times in a year. Parts of London have already exceeded those limits. Sian Berry, The Green Party’s candidate for London Mayor was in Islington on Saturday to assist with the project.
Sian Berry said: “Air pollution is a key part of our campaign for the upcoming London elections. Thousands of Londoners die each year due to our dirty, polluted air. It is fantastic to see residents taking part in these experiments but they shouldn’t have to resort to such measures to shame the authorities into taking action.”
Simon Birkett, Founder and Director of Clean Air in London, said: “These pollution monitors are an essential tool to help us map, track and take action on air pollution. We already know that many roads in London have levels of nitrogen dioxide that are amongst the highest in the world – far above legal limits and World Health Organisation guidelines. We await Islington’s NO2 results with real interest as we campaign for a new Clean Air Revolution in 2016 that bans diesel from the most polluted places exactly 60 years after coal burning was banned so successfully.”
ENDS
1. Heather Walton, David Dajnak, Sean Beevers, Martin Williams, Paul Watkiss and Alistair Hunt. (2015). Understanding the Health Impacts of Air Pollution in London. Available: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm/research/divisions/aes/research/ERG/research-projects/HIAinLondonKingsReport14072015final.pdf. Last accessed 25th Jan 2016.
Read the story in the Islington Gazette here.