London's air quality scandal

It's probably best to read the next paragraph carefully. In fact, I'm going to bold it, so that it doesn't just skipped over.

New research released yesterday revealed that the UK’s poor air quality is causing 24,000 premature deaths a year. The research found that 4,400 deaths are caused each year in London, four times as many as earlier estimates.

24. THOUSAND. DEATHS. A year.

I'm sure if such a big deal hadn't been made of all that, many readers would have assimilated it as just another environmental proclamation. The truth is, it's a massively important issue - and the Green Party is one of the few organisations that seems to take it seriously. How seriously? Well, the photograph above is of the London Green Party Euro election launch, which took place this week next to an air quality monitoring station in Marylebone, precisely to highlight this issue.

And as always, Jean is on the ball in Europe - championing the EU Directive that will hopefully finally force the UK Government (and Boris Johnson) to take this issue seriously.

UK FACES LEGAL ACTION ON AIR QUALITY DURING 2012 OLYMPICS

The UK faces an embarrassing legal wrangle during the 2012 Olympics over its failure to act on air pollution, Jean Lambert, London’s Green Party MEP, has warned.

The European Commission has already launched legal action against the UK over breaching standards on particulate matter (PM10), the tiny airborne particles emitted by industry, vehicles and domestic heating, which can cause and irritate conditions such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer and lead to premature death.

In addition, hundreds of local authorities in the UK exceed EU limit values for nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Traffic fumes on certain stretches of roads breach safety levels in some 95% of zones and agglomerations in the UK, and on two major stretches of road in London NO2 levels are double the limits set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). NO2 limit values come into place in 2010, and if the UK is still in breach of these it risks further action from the Commission.

Jean said:

“The Government has repeatedly shirked its responsibilities to comply with EU standards, specifically put in place to protect human health. I recently raised its non-compliance with NO2 limits with the European Commission, pointing out that unless pre-emptive action is taken now, the UK could be mired in legal action from the Commission over its non-compliance in the period leading up to the Olympics. All eyes will be on London in 2012 – how’s it going to look if the UK is in the dock for failing to reduce the levels of deadly pollutants in the air?”

Jean’s warning follows a report released on 1 May by the London Assembly’s Environment Committee, then chaired by Green Party AM Darren Johnson, into air quality in the capital. The report noted that health problems caused by air pollution cost the NHS £20 billion a year, and called on Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, to set out detailed projections of the costings, timings and impacts of policies contained in his forthcoming air quality strategy. It also recommended action to reduce road traffic and encourage walking and cycling, technological solutions to ensure Londoners are better informed about air pollution, and close co-operation between the Mayor, the GLA, individual boroughs and national government.

EU Parliament Votes to End Seal Trade

Even with four weeks to go until the election, Jean is still hard at work on all of the issues that matter. Yesterday, she helped to vote through landmark legislation banning the commercial trade of seal products - while the failure of most MEPs to support tightened regulation of animal testing showed how far we have to go on issues such as these, and how vital Green MEPs are at Strasbourg.

EU PARLIAMENT VOTES TO END SEAL TRADE, BUT FAILS TO PROTECT ANIMALS USED IN EXPERIMENTS

The European Parliament voted this week on two critical pieces on legislation on animals.

An overwhelming majority of Euro-MPs (550 votes in favour, 49 against, 41
abstentions) voted in favour of a ban on the commercial trade of seal products in the EU London's Green Party MEP, Jean Lambert, who voted in favour said:

"This vote is a victory for the global campaign against animal cruelty. Nearly one million seals are slaughtered annually in commercial seal hunts around the world, and the products of those slaughters - primarily fur - are legally traded in the EU. By closing the door on fur and other seal products, Parliament has taken meaningful action to reduce the scale of commercial seal killing."

However, in another development, a report on animal testing was adopted, which failed to make vital improvements for the 12 million animals that are used in experiments in the EU each year.

The London Green MEP continued:

"This vote will be a major disappointment for animal welfare supporters and presents a missed opportunity to tighten the existing regulation on the use of animals in experiments. The EU should be the world leader on research into and use of non-animal testing, but this vote has done little to make progress on this issue.

"A number of critical amendments tabled by the Greens, that could have secured major improvements for animals, were rejected by a majority of MEPs. It is particularly disappointing that MEPs did not even vote for Green proposals that would have at least ensured the phasing out of the use of primates caught in the wild. It is appalling that the Parliament has allowed this practice to continue."

Put People First

As you may have seen - perhaps you were even there - the Put People First coalition organised a demonstration today in central London, to 'welcome' the G20 to the city. The march, calling for action on 'Jobs, Justice and Climate', was attended by around 50,000 people and supported by over 150 different organisations - from NGOs, to trade unions, to grassroots community groups. For its part, the Green Party organised its members to attend, and numerous party placards with the inscriptions "Brown Out - Green Power" and "Workers for the World Unite" could be seen throughout the march.

Of course, demonstrations like this are important for many reasons - to bring together a movement that can often feel disparate - to call for change and make plain opposition to the status quo - and to provide a 'hook' to start building longer lasting alternatives for the future.

As you would expect, Greens on the march were pointing out at every opportunity that it makes no sense just to lobby politicians, when we also have the power to elect ones that we agree with in the first place! As the latest in our series of highlighted issue videos from Jean makes plain below, our current Green MEPs have a fantastic record on workers rights, and on standing up for ordinary people. Lets get them re-elected to Strasbourg in the next few months!

As ever, should you want to make a much appreciated donation to Jean's re-election campaign, you can just click on the button on the right. If you have more time to give than money, then please do get in touch via reelectjean@hotmail.co.uk - there is always something to do!

Air pollution in London

Jean is an occasional blogger on the Guardian's Comment Is Free. Today's article is on the subject of the EU preparing to sue the UK government for its pitiful failure over air quality, particularly in London. Not a moment too soon!