MP warns of air pollution risk to health

Alison Seabeck MP has welcomed Labour’s commitment to protect people’s right to breathe clean air.  Ms Seabeck has spoken out against the government’s inaction on air quality and welcomed the announcement that a Labour government will deliver a national framework for Low Emissions Zones.

Ms Seabeck said: “Air pollution causes 96 early deaths each year in Plymouth and 29,000 nationally, more than obesity and alcohol, yet the Government has no plan to get air pollution under control.

“Exposure to the level of air pollution currently found in Plymouth Moor View causes cancer and cardiovascular disease.  Studies have also shown that pregnant women who are exposed to these pollutants have significantly high risk of low birth weight babies, and poor respiratory health”

“We have already been clobbered with one incinerator by the Conservative Council and Government in the Weston Mill area of the City and the extra lorry traffic will no doubt add to the current levels. We are now facing having another one built in Ernesettle, which will also bring extra lorry traffic. This is not nimbyism but real concern about too much air pollution in one relatively small area. Four lorries an hour just delivering means around 10 an hour on all journeys. This is excessive in a residential area.”

The Healthy Air Campaign said: “Alison Seabeck MP is doing the right thing by stepping in to protect the health of local people. Air pollution is an invisible killer, causing heart attacks, strokes, respiratory disease. Children living near busy roads have been shown to grow up with underdeveloped lungs, and that’s not acceptable.”