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Air Quality

In comparison to rural areas, urban air contains; 7x more dust particles, 200x more sulphur dioxide,10x more nitrogen dioxide and twice as much carbon dioxide. Urban air pollution is linked with 2 million premature deaths. The economic cost from the impacts of air pollution in the UK is estimated at £9-19 billion every year.

The main pollutants in the UK are particulate matter (PM), this is the pollutant which has the biggest impact on public health. PM is used to describe a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets in the air, it can be either human-made or naturally occurring. For example dust, ash and sea-spray. PM is emitted into the air during the burning of solid and liquid fuels, used for power generation, domestic heating and in vehicle engines. Particulate matter varies in size (i.e. the diameter or width of the particle). PM2.5 means the mass per cubic metre of air of particles with a size (diameter) generally less than 2.5 micrometres (μm). PM2.5 is also known as fine particulate matter. (2.5 micrometres is one 400th of a millimetre). Inhalation of particulate pollution can have adverse health impacts, and there is understood to be no safe threshold below which no adverse effects would be anticipated6. The biggest impact of particulate air pollution on public health is understood to be from long-term exposure to PM2.5, which increases the age- specific mortality risk, particularly from cardiovascular causes. Several plausible mechanisms for this effect on mortality have been proposed, although it is not yet clear which is the most important. Exposure to high levels of PM (e.g. during short- term pollution episodes) can also exacerbate lung and heart conditions, significantly affecting quality of life, and increase deaths and hospital admissions. Children, the elderly and those with pre-existing respiratory and cardiovascular disease, are known to be more susceptible to the health impacts from air pollution7. Potential mechanisms...

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