To bring this article to your attention...

[PinkPlantCase]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-55106501

It’s about the link between air pollution and a girl, Ella who had severe asthma and sadly died. It is now being argued that her death had a direct link with the unlawful levels of air pollution close to her London home.

It seems that her parents were never made aware by their medical team that air pollution could be a cause for their daughters asthma.

I find this so sad, I am much more aware of air pollution than most because of a breathing condition that is directly linked to airborne pollutants. I can tell when there are days that the air feels like soup or tastes gritty.

Please take care and read up on the risks or check your local levels, especially if your DCs have asthma.

London Air do an hourly bulletin-

www.londonair.org.uk/LondonAir/Default.aspx

I read the whole article yesterday, Ella's mum spoke so movingly and eloquently throughout.

I think there is awareness that air pollution triggers asthma attacks but few people would think it could directly be THE cause of death ie that air pollution was the cause of that little girl's asthma and without that air pollution she would have been completely healthy.

I pray the inquest makes people realise something needs to change.

“Article two of the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees the right to life. Ella could set a precedent, helping those forced to breathe unlawful levels of dirty air to hold the authorities to account, and demand action.
What's been called the "invisible killer" has also been legally invisible, Rosamund's lawyer Jocelyn Cockburn says. This inquest could make it impossible to ignore.”

I was surprised about her possibly being the first person with air pollution as cause of death. I thought that would be, if anything, victims of the Great smog?

It's a sad thing and yes, air pollution is horrible in some places.

She’s sadly not the first to die due to air pollution. The U.K. NHS even tracks the annual excess deaths attributed to air pollution- latest number I saw was 40,000 die each year.

She may be first to have it put as cause of death on her death certificate instead of the usual “asthma” “copd” and other lung conditions, which is long overdue.

@SillyOldMummy it was this bit that stuck out to me though -

I was very angry when I read that report," says Rosamund. "No-one had ever said anything to us about pollution before. We were looking for a medical answer. And this was an environmental answer. But he said he was 97% certain. And he's been doing this for 40 years.

I think if air pollution had been suggested earlier than then maybe her family would have moved. I know not everyone has the ability and changing schools, jobs and medical teams would have been very daunting but surely parents of very ill DCs would try almost anything. If only the medical team had the awareness to discuss environmental factors.

Very interested to hear the outcome of the inquest too, particularly what it will mean for the duty of care that local councils etc. have for local residents.

Mmmm TBH i thought it was general knowledge that air polution makes astham worse. Did she need a doctor to tell her that? Aso there is no guarentee the child died due to the air polution. I was on a coach trip onetime and we had a lot of asthma attacks on the coach think it was some cleaning products used. So maybe thatt. Maybe it was dust?

@june2007 have some compassion.

‘TBH i thought it was general knowledge that air polution makes astham worse’

You think the parents thought it was severe enough to cause the death of their daughter?

@june2007 I think some people struggle to understand how environmental factors can influence different people so drastically differently. Especially when you have a medical team that isn’t focusing on that.

When my breathing first became bad I had all sorts of unnecessary interventions because doctors thought I had spontaneous anaphylaxis, it was only when we were able to access consultants privately that looked at the instances differently and I was then able to access appropriate care and medical advice.

You would not believe the number of people who argue about not removing something that makes the air very hard for me to breathe. The latest battle was about a new electronic air fresher in the toilet at work. Everyone else thought it smelt lovely and I had to really stand my ground to get them to take it out. It genuinely meant to couldn’t use the toilet at work 😂

If they noticed her Astma was getting worse then it may be something they would consider considering they lived in London.

I thought this link (asthma, early death, air pollution) was widely recognised.

Do we have to warn every family everywhere about every risk factor?

It’s awful that the government knows air pollution is at illegal levels, is killing people, and yet they aren’t doing anything. I remember reading about Ella during the initial inquest and wasn’t surprised that air pollution was the cause. I work on the 10th floor of an office just outside the City and on medium and high pollution days I can see the cloud of smog, it’s awful.

@yeOldeTrout maybe we do when it’s killing children.

This is what gave us a wake up call. We had the luxury of being able to move house. Not everyone is in the same position or event wants to.

Children exposed to roadside air pollution could have their lung growth stunted by up to 14%, a study suggests. ... The study found roadside air pollution stunted lung growth in children by approximately 14% in Oxford, 13% in London, 8% in Birmingham, 5% in Liverpool, 3% in Nottingham and 4% in Southampton.

www.bbc.com/news/health-50467700

But governments have tried to do things hence the londn trafic schemes. The no smoking in doors, the no fires. Could more be done absolutely.

@Redolent Oxford is actually where my breathing was the worse! The city is in a bowl and the crap in the air never gets blown away.