Air quality: the threat that dare not speak its name?

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 31st Oct 2004

About 40,000 deaths a year are attributed to poor air quality in the UK. Meanwhile London's pollution has been found as far away as Asia, and in parts of the city breathing is equivalent to smoking. But hush, neither our New Labour Government nor Conservative Enfield Council break the silence. It appears the parties in power want the issue under wraps.

The pollution villains are oxides of nitrogen and PM10s - very fine particles, commonly emitted by diesel engines, which cause heart disease and cancer, and are serious for asthmatics and people with emphysema. Both pollutants are emitted by industry, domestic appliances and railways, but the runaway leader is road transport, mainly cars/vans and lorries, at more than 75% of the total.

At the instigation of Europe - heaven help Britain' environment if we relied on Blair's Government - Enfield Council has air quality targets to meet before December 2005. Few in the medical profession would think them adequate, and the Council shows very little interest in doing more than just enough to meet the targets. Above all, it is doing shamefully little to raise awareness.

Liberal Democrats are upfront about the issues, would hasten progress on ways of reducing pollution by means of green travel plans (such as car sharing), safer pedestrian and cycling routes to school, cleaner technology and, above all, fostering public transport. Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat parliamentary environmental spokesman led the way in pointing out that the rapid rise in the use of 4x4 vehicles is unnecessarily lowering air quality, increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, exacerbating congestion and reducing road safety.