Key information
Request reference number: MGLA150223-0217
Date of response:
Summary of request
Your request
Please provide data or evidence used to inform the following quote attributed to a
spokesperson for The Mayor in the BBC Article entitled, 'London ULEZ: North Kent
residents fear 'colossal' impact of expansion', dated 25 January 2023.
The quote was as follows:
'A spokesperson for London's Mayor said he has a 'duty' to tackle toxic air pollution
which is causing people to develop 'life-changing illnesses… around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year due to toxic air, with the greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution in London's outer boroughs,' they added.
Our response
The information you have requested is publicly available and I have included links where
relevant.
Studies have long shown the many adverse health issues associated with elevated pollution levels.
A 2022 authoritative evidence review continued to show the health impacts of traffic
pollution, especially asthma in both children and adults.
Previous analysis has shown that London’s air pollution was estimated to lead to around 700 asthma hospital admissions from 2017 to 2019 in children in London, 7 per cent of all asthma admissions in children in London, and to around 900 asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) admissions from 2017-2019 in the elderly in London.
The growing health evidence now links air pollution to dementia, shows how air pollution causes lung cancer in non-smokers and found particulate air pollution in unborn babies.
For further information on the above please see the following links:
- Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Selected Health Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Traffic-Related Air Pollution
- Health Impact Assessment of Air Pollution on Asthma in London
- Air pollution: cognitive decline and dementia
- Cancer rules rewritten by air-pollution discovery
- Maternal exposure to ambient black carbon particles and their presence in maternal and fetal circulation and organs: an analysis of two independent population-based observational studies
The specific figure you quote was a finding from the London Health Burden of Current Air
Pollution and Future Health Benefits of Mayoral Air Quality Policies review, which was
commissioned by the GLA and produced by the Environmental Research Group at Imperial
College London.
The full report is available on the GLA website.
If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact us, quoting
reference MGLA150223-0217.