FAILURE TO TACKLE SMOG WILL COST THE LIVES OF LONDONERS

5.50.39pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 22nd Jun 2005

Commenting on the issuing of the first smog warning of the summer for London and parts of the South East, Liberal Democrat London Assembly environment spokesperson, Mike Tuffrey, said:-

"After six years of rhetoric all the talk on reducing congestion, improving air quality and being a champion of the environment, wears thin when the problems are getting worse.

"The damage to Londoners health from smog is not something that just happened in the bygone post war days, it is having terrible effects on individual health today as well. Air pollution is causing thousands of deaths and hospital admissions each year.

"The spate of unusually hot summers is taking its toll on air quality in the capital. If global warming and the rise in dangerous vehicle emissions are allowed to continue unchallenged, the situation will only get worse.

"The health of thousands of Londoners is already at severe risk from smog and pollution and the capital must urgently cleans up its act.

"High smog levels can cause lung damage and increase respiratory infections in young children. Long-term exposure may lead to increases in asthma and may cause alterations in the lung.

"A mayor for Greater London must make sure that improvements in our quality of life happen across the whole of the capital and not just within the Zone 1. Instead of dithering and delaying he needs to get his act together to declare the whole of London a low emissions zone as a matter of urgency so that Londoners can regain confidence in the air that they breathe."

ENDS

Ben Bradshaw, minister for local environmental quality announced the smog warning on Wednesday 22nd June 2005