Assassins invisible on the street

A study in the UK showed that emissions from vehicles are the biggest killer on the streets every year.

M25 motorway vehicles in the UK.This is the road with the largest traffic volume in Europe.Photo: PA.

According to statistics from 1998 up to now, up to 24,000 people in the UK die prematurely every year due to emissions from vehicles. Meanwhile, on average, only 2,600 people die every year because of traffic accidents in the country. European Union researchers claim actual deaths because car emissions in Britain are two times higher than published statistics, because many studies show air pollution in the street. causing many chronic diseases in humans.

Telegraph said, in early February, the House Audit Committee of the House of Commons, heard a report about about 35,000 Britons died early in 2005 because of exposure to micro particles in the air by means of traffic discharged. Professor Frank Kelly, an environmental health expert at King's University in the UK, claims that in London alone there are about 3,500 - 8,000 people dying each year because of traffic pollution.

Tim Yeo, head of the British House's Environmental Audit Committee, admitted he was "stunned" to hear the latest statistics. Telegraph said that every year the economy lost about $ 28 billion by workers to leave work and get sick by emissions from vehicles.

Road vehicles generate about 70% of emissions in urban areas. Emissions from vehicles have a lot of NO2 - one of the gases that causes asthma in children - and many micro particles. Both NO ₂ and micro particles are released into the air after the combustion of the engine fuel and can cause many respiratory diseases. Scientists cannot measure their exact concentration in the air.

Although governments are increasingly making more stringent regulations on emissions, NO2 and micro-particles still exist in the atmosphere thanks to the rise of diesel engines - which emit less CO2 but generate more particles. tiny is capable of destroying people's lungs. In the 1990s, only 8% of new cars in the UK used diesel engines, but today that number has increased to more than 40%.

The Health Effects Institute in the US has reviewed more than 700 recent air pollution studies. The institute's report shows that heart and lung diseases will arise if people are exposed to polluted air for a long time. Among them are many diseases that can kill people like atherosclerosis (which can lead to heart attack or stroke) and pulmonary congestion. The report says the fetus may have many dangerous problems if the woman lives less than 500 meters from a large road. Lungs of children living in heavily contaminated environments will be difficult to function normally.