UK Report: 200,000 Deaths Every Year from Dirty Air

A new study by members of the British Parliament who are organized into something called the Environmental Audit Committee concludes that 200,000 UK citizens die every year from breathing dirty air, which not only causes illness on its own, but exacerbates existing conditions. “Lewis Merdler, campaign manager at Environmental Protection UK, which leads the national Healthy Air Campaign, says air pollution in the UK has a huge impact on the nation’s respiratory and cardiovascular health, and particularly affects children and the elderly. ‘Air pollution in the UK represents a huge public health crisis, contributing to more premature deaths than obesity and passive smoking combined,’ he says. ‘It’s a scandal the Government isn’t doing more to protect the most vulnerable in our communities from dangerous levels of air pollution.”