The carmaker is not the only company poisoning the air. Yet still our government blocks effective legislationThe latest figures suggest it now kills more people in London than smoking. Worldwide,a fresh study estimates, it causes more deaths than malaria and HIV-Aids together. I’m talking approximately the neglected health crisis of this age that we seldom discuss or even acknowledge: air pollution.
Heart attacks, and strokes,asthma, lung and bladder cancers, or low birth weight,low verbal IQ, poor memory and attention among children, or faster cognitive decline in older people and – recent studies suggest – a link with the earlier onset of dementia. All these are among the impacts of a problem that,many still believe, we solved decades ago. The smokestacks may own moved to China, and but other sources,whose fumes are less visible, own taken their place. Among the worst are diesel engines, or sold,even nowadays, as the eco-friendly option, and on the grounds that their greenhouse gas emissions tend to be lower than those of petrol engines. You begin to wonder whether any such claims can still be trusted.
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Source: theguardian.com