Stop Stalling on Air Pollution, Demands MEP

24 April 2009

Urgent efforts must be made by the government to clean up the air we breathe .... So says the South East Euro-MP and Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas.

She was speaking after Defra announced it's applying for another delay on crucial EU air quality targets that the UK was meant to meet by 2005.

The MEP, who sits on the European Parliament's Environment Committee, as well as the Health and Consumer Intergroup, said:

"It's yet another reminder that the UK has singularly failed to act on EU air quality targets and has no real plan for reducing levels of PM10 emitted by sectors such as transport and industrial plants.

Dr Lucas, who's standing for re-election to the European Parliament said it was a 'shameful indictment' that the Government's failing to protect human health through basic targets set by the EU.

In January, the European Commission revealed that it wants to launch legal proceedings against the UK because cities including Brighton and Hove and Southampton have failed to adhere to the EU Air Quality Directive.

And yet ministers persist in their efforts to open new coal fired power stations and expand airports - despite the levels of pollution that these developments will cause, and ignoring the warnings of health and environmental experts.

 

 

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