More than 100 UK doctors have pressed the Prime Minister to come up with an urgent plan to reduce lethal and “alarming” levels of air pollution, including “taking action” on wood-burning stoves.
Heating appliances, which have become a popular fixture in middle-class homes, are said to be one of the main drivers of harmful air pollutants in UK cities.
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, doctors warn that toxins generated by burning wood are an “invisible killer” thought to contribute to 38,000 premature deaths a year.
These pollutants are also linked to a range of lung and heart problems, including asthma and delayed lung development in children.
As well as “cracking down” on wood-burning stoves in cities and towns, doctors suggest other ways to curb pollution, including improving infrastructure to help more people walk and cycle instead of drive.
Wood stoves are estimated to cause up to 38,000 premature deaths a year, according to a 2022 report
Nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah died in 2013 after three years of seizures and 27 hospital visits for treatment of breathing problems.
Domestic combustion, which includes wood burning, contributed to a third of the UK’s total PM2.5 emissions in 2021 – airborne particles invisible to the human eye that can enter the bloodstream and penetrate deep into the lungs.
This is more than was produced in cars, according to The times.
Burning wood and solid fuels creates hotspots of dirty air in parts of north and south London, according to ‘Wood burning project in London‘.
The letter, organised by the campaign group Riding for their livesis calling for greater efforts to reduce air pollution that contributed to the death of Ella Kissi-Debrah aged nine, the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as a cause of death on her death certificate.
While the letter does not call for a blanket nationwide ban on wood-burning stoves, many health professionals want them banned in urban settings.
“Rapid and cost-effective solutions include measures to avoid the burning of solid fuels in the home where reasonable alternatives exist and a genuine transformation to an environment where people can actively travel to work and school,” the group of health professionals said in the letter.
“Measures could include the government educating people about the health risks of wood-burning stoves,” Heather Lambert of Ride for Their Lives told The Times.
Pollution levels in London frequently exceed recommended limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and PM2.5, airborne particles that are invisible to the human eye but can reach the bloodstream and penetrate deep into the lungs.
Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah warns that ‘air pollution is an invisible killer’ after the death of her daughter
Medical professionals stressed that pollution reduces fertility, damages fetal lungs, increases spontaneous abortions and also leads to smaller and premature babies.
They added that it can contribute to neurological decline and said the role of air pollution in stroke and dementia is now well established.
A 2021 coroner’s report found that air pollution contributed to Ella Kissi-Debrah’s death.
She, from south-east London, suffered a fatal asthma attack in 2013 after being exposed to excessive air pollution from cars.
She lived just 80 feet from a known pollution hotspot on the busy Lewisham South Circular Road in south-east London, one of the busiest roads in the capital.
Between 2010 and 2013, he suffered numerous seizures and made nearly 30 visits to the hospital.
She was later rushed to hospital following a coughing fit, but repeatedly lost consciousness and eventually died in February 2013.
Ella’s mother, Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, said: “Air pollution is an invisible killer, you can’t see the damage it’s doing to your body or your children’s bodies.”
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said he would meet the targets of the Environment Act, which includes a goal of reducing PM2.5 pollution by 2040.
The target calls for a maximum annual average concentration of no more than ten micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic metre by that date.
This follows the expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) last year to cover all boroughs of the city in a bid to further reduce pollution levels.
Air pollution is known to cause lung cancer. Although smoking remains the main risk factor for the disease (causing 34,800 deaths a year in the UK), outdoor air pollution causes around one in ten cases.
An estimated 6,000 people who have never smoked die from lung cancer each year in the UK, some of whom may be due to exposure to air pollution.
