Mayoral candidates asked to address public health crisis

A campaign group called Clean Air in London has called upon mayoral candidates to address the 'biggest public health crisis for decades'.

Clean air is set to be a dominant theme in the run up to the 2012 election for the next mayor of London, with a new manifesto been launched for Clean Air in London.

The manifesto highlights several priorities that should be included in the candidate's campaign, including championing the case for air quality with the UK and European governments, cutting traffic pollution and using planning powers to cut the capital’s carbon emissions.

As part of the campaign, electoral candidates are to be ranked in accordance to their pollution commitments. This will help voters to easily identify which party would do the most to improve London’s air quality.

The significance of the campaign is of great prevalence due to the London 2012 Olympics. Recent reports have suggested that athletes could suffer from impaired performance times and become ill as a result of the pollution levels in London.

Simon Birkett, founder and director of Clean Air in London, said: "London is back where we thought it was during the Great Smog of 1952.”

“Boris Johnson says there were 4,267 early deaths in London in 2008 attributable to long-term exposure to ‘invisible’ air pollution."

Posted by Joseph Hutton