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SUMMARY:Urban Air Quality: An Increasing Challenge for Public Health - Pro
 fessor Frank Kelly\, King's College London
DTSTART:20151117T160000Z
DTEND:20151117T170000Z
UID:TALK60975@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alice Wood
DESCRIPTION:An increasing proportion of the world’s population live in d
 ensely populated three dimensional urban landscapes. Many of the world’s
  megacities like London have severe air pollution problems. There was a ti
 me when the UK led the world in cleaning up its air - passing the Clean Ai
 r Act in 1956 to reduce smoke and sulphur dioxide. \n\nIn recent years how
 ever air quality improvements have stalled. The UK has been breeching Euro
 pean Union (EU) limit values every year since 2005 for the modern day poll
 utants – namely nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and (WHO guidelines for) particul
 ate matter (PM) – and currently there is no prospect of achieving compli
 ance for NO2 in some areas until 2025. What is more worrying\, over the sa
 me period\, evidence to support the detrimental short and long-term effect
 s on health has increased substantially: current estimates indicate that e
 xposure to PM2.5 contributes to 29\,000 premature deaths each year while e
 xposure to NO2 contributes to 23\,000 premature deaths in the UK each year
 . \n\nIn 2012 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) class
 ified particulates in diesel fumes as a known carcinogen – in 2013 a WHO
  report concluded that health effects of PM and NO2 can occur at concentra
 tions lower than the their health-based guideline values\, which of note f
 or PM\, are lower than the EU limits we fail to adhere to. In addition\, o
 ther than the well-documented risks to cardiopulmonary health\, increasing
  evidence exists that air pollution exerts a wider threat\, negatively inf
 luencing reproductive outcomes and neurological health. Establishing the b
 iological link between exposure to urban PM and NO2 pollution is a huge\, 
 but necessary challenge if we are to protect the most vulnerable in Societ
 y and help establish regulation that minimises this increasingly important
  public health issue. 
LOCATION:Wolfson Lecture Theatre\,  Department of Chemistry
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