A campaign led by medical professionals is calling for all diesel cars to be banned from London.
Doctors Against Diesel claim 9,400 Londoners a year die prematurely from breathing in toxic fumes from diesel engines, the (BBC) reported.
Doctors Against Diesel - comprising doctors, nurses and health professionals - are calling for Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, to commit to phasing out diesel vehicles from London.
Khan has already said he wants to get rid of diesel buses by 2018.
A spokesman for the mayor said he has no legal powers to ban cars in London and is calling on the government “to face its responsibility and implement a national diesel scrappage scheme now”. According to the campaign, nearly 40% of all nitrogen oxides emissions and PM10 pollution, which is linked to decreased lung function, within London comes from diesel vehicles.
A spokesman for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the industry is investing “billions” to reduce emissions and the latest diesel cars are the “cleanest in history”. Figures released by SMMT claim emissions of nitrogen oxides have reduced by 84% since 2000 “thanks to exhaust after-treatments” while new “high tech” filters capture 99% of all soot particles from diesel engines.
Professor Jonathan Grigg from Doctors Against Diesel told the BBC: “Deaths from paediatric asthma are disproportionately much higher in London than the rest of Europe.
“Air pollution levels in London exceed legal limits and affect people’s health at every stage of life.”
Earlier this month London’s air pollution hit more than double the usual levels, according to the London Air Quality Network.
It came as temperatures plummeted below freezing amid clear skies and low wind levels.
Parents were advised to “take care” when taking their baby outside by the pioneering Plume Labs company after it recorded toxic levels of air pollution.
The firm put the level of air pollution in London as “high” based on World Health Organisation limits, which are stricter for some pollutants than EU rules used by the Government and other experts.
Recent figures showed Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and the City had the highest rate of deaths attributable to PM 2.5 particulate pollution.
Scientists warn that this type of tiny particulate pollution is particularly dangerous as it can get deep into the lungs and seep into the bloodstream - causing heart and lung disease, cancer, and aggravating asthma.
It is significantly blamed on diesel engines, coal-burning power stations, agriculture and shipping.
Levels have risen in London in recent days, with winds blowing in from France carrying pollution.
