ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU GASP

Britain is facing legal action over its failure to meet European air quality standards, and Southampton is among those which have regularly exceeded the limits for pollutants. The UK is likely to incur substantial financial penalties for the infringements. The Greens have pledged to take urgent action to improve Southampton's air quality.

The UK's failure to comply with the basic standards has led to unacceptable levels of certain airborne pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM10) which are extremely dangerous to human health. The new air quality directive provided an option for member states to apply for an extension for particular geographical areas which, if they met the conditions, would delay the target for tiny airborne particles known as PM10. However, the UK government missed the deadline of 31 October last year
to apply for an extension, showing either disregard for the legislation or recognition that it would not meet the conditions.

Instead, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has now launched a consultation on a planned application to try to delay meeting the PM10 standards until mid-2011 (PM10 are particles of pollution).
The intention is to send the application to the commission "as soon as possible" after the connsultation has closed on 10 March.

Chris Bluemel, prospective Green candidate for Southampton, said: ''Breathing heavily polluted air puts people in Southampton and other urban areas at greater risk of developing asthma, other respiratory problems, cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. This is why the legislation is there. It is false economy not to implement air quality standards, as there will be increasing demands on the NHS. It is also an issue of social justice, as it is the poor who tend to live in the most polluted areas.''

Public Consultation a “sham”

Hampshire Against Fluoridation Chairperson John Spottiswoode has condemned the Public Consultation plans being voted on by South Central Strategic Health Authority on Thursday (24^th July). He says that: “the Strategic Health Authority has failed to give a guarantee to Hampshire Against Fluoridation that the planned Public Consultation will be truly fair and balanced. They will not guarantee to allow people who oppose fluoridation to have a fair voice in the consultation. Therefore the whole process will be one sided and a sham. It looks like it will be a propaganda exercise designed to obtain a predetermined result.”

In addition John Spottiswoode, who also represents SW Hampshire Green Party, has formally complained to the Health Authority about bias in their reports to the Board and a failure to consider the arguments against fluoridation. By failing to consider the full range of relevant information he charges that they have made deeply flawed decisions. He continues: “The Health Authorities are likely to have spent at least a quarter of a million pounds on pushing water fluoridation onto the people of Southampton and Hampshire who justifiably are very suspicious of the idea. The authorities are using their institutional muscle in manpower and our money to push something that is known to have many serious, sometimes fatal, side effects on health. This is not only wasteful of scarce NHS resources, but irresponsible and distracts from tackling the true causes of poor dental health, eating a bad diet and not cleaning the teeth properly. Fluoridation fails in its official purpose of improving dental health as it causes fluorosis which dentists refuse to treat on the NHS.”

He continues: “The proposed Public Consultation is a sham. It is actually pointless in that water fluoridation flouts medical ethics and human rights. It is unethical (and indeed illegal) to mass-medicate a population via their water supply. No person should be medicated without their individual consent. If one person does not give their individual consent then fluoridation of the water supply cannot legitimately take place. I do not give my consent to Southern Water to add fluoride to my water supply - medicating me and my family. The people of Southampton and Hampshire who oppose fluoridation need to make this absolutely clear to Southern Water, Health Authorities and their elected representatives too.”