A forensic investigation the death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah came to a remarkable conclusion last week. The ruling by Southwark Coroner’s Court, published on December 16, officially concluded that air pollution was a cause of death for the 9-year-old girl who had lived near South Circular Road in London.
she she had been hospitalized dozens of times for severe asthma attacks and her condition disabled her from an early age. The coroner’s sentence after his death in 2013 suspected that air pollution was a contributing factor, the BBC reports.
The girl’s mother, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, continued the investigation, which has led to an amended forensic report. The report is different from anyone known to have previously registered.
In the years following Ella’s death, her mother became an advocate for the World Health Organization, which warned London officials that levels of air pollution has exceeded security limits. A report released in November cited related figures, courtesy of the BBC:
“The government estimates that the number of people killed by long-term exposure to air pollution in the UK is up to 30,000 a year. However, no direct link has ever been established with a individual death “.
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Now this direct link exists for the first time and the cause of death of Ella’s death certificate will reflect the findings. The cause previously appeared as “Acute Respiratory Failure.” At the time, the coroner could only speculate that he was triggered by “something in the air.” Officials are now past speculations and have stated that their medical cause of death is acute respiratory failure, severe asthma, and exposure to air pollution:
The sentence is significant because it does not cite the correlation; cite the cause. Until this verdict, air pollution could only be associated with the cause of death of an individual. This concludes that air pollution was one of the real causes of death.
Proponents of clean air noted the ruling and say it has set the precedent needed to make the change and start good faith dialogues on air pollution in the UK. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, commented the following in response to the sentence:
“Toxic air pollution is a public health crisis, especially for our children, and the research once again emphasized the importance of pursuing bold policies such as expanding the area of ultra-low emissions in central London. Ministers and the former mayor have acted too slowly in the past, but now they must learn the lessons of the forensic sentence and do much more to combat the deadly scourge of air pollution in London and across the country. “
The ruling marks the first record of air pollution as a cause of death in the UK, but it is possibly the first official record of its kind in the world. We’re all affected by air pollution, well, except for the ISS crew, maybe.
The direct health effects of air pollution are also very evident in the United States. In Detroit, the Marathon Petroleum Company buys homes near one of its refineries, spending $ 5 million to create distance between it and residential areas. according to the Detroit News.
Marathon is polluting the local air so badly that it is paying for relocations and legal fees in addition to the values of the house. And that happens after federal regulators investigated the company for another pollution case in September 2019. But the pollution is not limited to Motor City.
The NIH has considered air pollution to be a carcinogenic already in 2013 and 2019 it published a comprehensive report that provides an overview of traffic-related air pollution. Cancer is not the only effect: chronic health conditions like COPD even diabetes it can be tracked or aggravated by air pollution.
Asthma, which contributed to Ella’s death, is as affected by external environmental factors as CDC he has a interactive map that can help track air pollution around the U.S. for Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Air Quality, Climate and Energy Solutions (CACES) to study who concluded the following:
“The estimated lives that could be saved with a further reduction in air pollution levels is more than thirty thousand, which is similar to the number of deaths from car accidents each year.”
We need to keep in mind that, as enthusiasts and drivers, we are not exempt from future discussions about these events. These will include us and should include us, but lasting change will depend on a scale that exceeds private car ownership. Heavy industries and commercial transportation must also be a heavy engine to curb harmful emissions.
Ecological initiatives are now accelerating around the world. For advocates and advocates, change may not come soon enough. Recent announcements have surprised us, but for those in the orbit of Ella and her family, they are exactly what we need to prevent this loss of life and to increase the quality of life for all.