| Topic: | Air Quality doubts over the London Olympics | |
| Posted by: | Tim Henderson | |
| Date/Time: | 31/03/12 08:35:00 |
| Good Geoffrey Lean article in the Telegraph : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/9176249/Air-quality-doubts-over-the-London-Olympics.html The section on the absence of health warning alerts is bizarre : "... Particulates – minuscule specks of matter, ranging from soot to dust from tyres – are much the most dangerous air pollutants, but the Government ignores them. It will only issue a warning when it expects the second nastiest one, ozone – formed by sunlight interacting with nitrogen dioxide and other emissions – to be at high levels for three successive days. The second reason is, if anything, even more outrageous. No matter how many high pollution episodes there may be in any one year, the Government will only issue a public warning for the first, maintaining silence when lethal levels recur. Attempts to justify this peculiar policy verge on the Kafkaesque. The reason, says the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is that following the first public announcement people are expected to sign up to get text messages warning of subsequent episodes. Everyone at risk, it dubiously asserts, will dutifully do that, making further alerts unnecessary. But, if that works so efficiently, why bother to publicise the first annual episode, since the text messages will continue to come. “Because not everyone will have signed up.” Officially the Government says “better public awareness is vital”. But its actions suggest it wants to avoid repeatedly making people aware of just how bad the air is, that public relations trumps public health. " |