THOUSANDS of vulnerable Scots are at risk from severe air pollution that is creating dangerous conditions across most of the country, an environmental charity has warned.
Friends of the Earth Scotland said that levels of toxic particulate matter were breaking World Health Organisation (WHO) and Scottish regulatory safety standards across many parts of the Central Belt, with the east particularly affected.
Unsafe levels of particulate matter were recorded on official monitors in Edinburgh, Fife, West Lothian, Falkirk, South Lanarkshire, Glasgow, and Renfrewshire yesterday.
The air pollution episode is now forecast to head north, with Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Western Isles, Highland Council, Moray, Perth and Kinross, the Shetlands, and Stirling expected to have unsafe levels over the weekend.
Emilia Hanna, air pollution campaigner for Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “Toxic particulate matter has blown in from the south of the United Kingdom and has added to the pollution pouring out of car and lorry exhausts on our streets.
“Still, calm weather in England produced a build-up of traffic-derived air pollution, which is now travelling to Scotland.
“The air pollution episode is creating dangerous conditions, especially for vulnerable people with lung or heart problems.”
Official health advice is that adults and children with lung problems, and adults with heart problems, who experience symptoms should consider reducing strenuous physical activity, particularly outdoors.
Traffic-derived air pollution, mainly composed of fine particles and toxic gases, has been linked with cancer, allergies, asthma, strokes, heart attacks, restricted foetal development, damaged lung development in children and the onset of dementia in adults.
Friends of the Earth Scotland estimate 2,500 people die early each year from air pollution in Scotland alone.
Ms Hanna said: “The Scottish Government needs to stop pouring millions into new motorways and trunk roads, and start getting serious about funding walking and cycling, and improving public transport.
“The Government has promised us a low-emission zone by 2018, and local politicians are beginning to show willing for a zone, but the Government needs to make a public commitment [to] that it will provide fundingfor these zones.”
A Government spokesman said: “We are determined to improve air quality and are working to ensure Scotland’s first low-emission zone is in place next year. The government is liaising closely with local authorities and other partners to meet this timetable.
“Our work on air pollution also includes a range of transport initiatives which are already in place, for example creating one of the most comprehensive electric vehicle charging networks in Europe with more than 1,200 charging bays, an interest- free loan scheme to support low emission vehicle ownership and a £14.5 million Green Bus Fund, which has seen the introduction of 300 low emission buses to the Scottish fleet.
“In addition, Our Cleaner Air For Scotland strategy sets out an ambitious programme of action to promote air quality. Scotland is the first country in Europe to adopt in legislation the World Health Organisation guideline value for particulate matter 2.5 – a pollutant of special concern for human health.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here