Source: Daily Times (subscription required to read the complete article)
Dirty diesel death toll hits 60,000
SCIENTISTS are to warn the government that air pollution, most of it from “dirty diesel” road traffic, may be to blame for up to 60,000 early deaths each year — about a tenth of Britain’s total annual toll.
The figure has emerged from analysis of the impact of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a toxic gas emitted mainly by diesel engines whose effects are not included in the official 29,000 annual deaths currently blamed on air pollution.
The discovery that the premature death toll may be higher will be published next year in a report by the committee on the medical effects of air pollutants, the government’s scientific advisory body. It is still finalising the figures.