Screening the smoke

-- A RECENT report reveals
that the UK regularly
exceeds its own stringent limits for particulate emissions from
diesel vehicles. The
report by the Quality
of Urban Air Review
Group - set up by the British government - has suggested additional tough
measures for controlling the emissions
and meeting officially recommended
targets. The worst offenders were
diesel cars, trucks and buses which
accounted for up to 80 per cent of emissions of particulate matter, POO - particles measuring up to one hundredth of
a millimetre - in big cities. The vehicles
regularly violated the governments recommended standard of 50 micrograms
per cu m of air. The only solution, says
the report, lies in cutting down traffic in
big cities by 80 per cent. The other alternative would be to ban diesel cars,
trucks and lorries from cities. The particulates hasten the death of several thousand elderly people by aggravating
their heart and respiratory conditions.
The government would be addressing
these problems in a national meeting
for air quality later this summer.