Healthy Air Campaign launched with Frank Kelly

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10/07/2011

Professor Frank Kelly, Director of Environmental Research Group, Kings College, London who is working with Invisible Breath artists Faisal Abdu’Allah, Effie Coe and Dryden Goodwin is the medical advisor to a new UK campaign for healthy air.

The campaign launched last Tuesday 5th July on the 55th anniversary of the Clean Air Act on the same day as Invisible Dust organised ‘Art, Smog and the East End’ a talk with artists and scientists about air pollution at the View Tube.

The healthy air campaign is a coalition of national health, environment and transport charities, calling on the Government to act to tackle this public health crisis. It urges individuals and communities to make lifestyle changes to mitigate the effects of air pollution in their cities and towns.

The Healthy Air Campaign seeks to increase public awareness and understanding of the health impacts of air pollution and help communities mitigate those impacts and adapt
to reduce them:

Air pollution causes as many early deaths in the UK today as were reported during the ‘Great Smog’ of 1952. A significant proportion of air pollution is caused by vehicle emissions, particularly the increasing number of diesel vehicles on our streets. Despite this, active transport choices can mitigate poor public health, including obesity and heart disease.

29,000 people die prematurely each year, on average 11.5 years early, because of long term exposure to air pollution, latest Government figures show, nearly 5% of all annual UK deaths.

Worst affected are the young, the elderly or those with existing health problems. New research indicates that air pollution can trigger asthma, stroke and heart attacks and permanently stunt children’s lung development.

It aims to achieve this by:

- Promoting active lifestyles among individuals in conjunction with a sustainable transport, air quality and public health approach within communities.

- Developing and driving actions to effectively monitor, report and reduce air pollution at a local and national level.

- Advocating a new government air quality and public health strategy integrated across
departments.

The Healthy Air Campaign is supported by a coalition of health, environment and transport NGOs including  Environmental Protection UK, Sustrans, Friends Of the Earth and Asthma UK.

For a detailed launch Pack go Environmental Protection UK,