Researchers find capacity stunted by pollution was restored after introduction of ultra-low emission zone<\/p>\n
Children\u2019s lungs grew bigger and stronger after the most polluting vehicles were restricted from entering London, a study has found.<\/p>\n
Examinations of London schoolchildren before and after the introduction of the city\u2019s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) found a restoration of lung capacity that had been stunted by exposure to pollution.<\/p>\n
The researchers said the findings were a vindication of the low-emission zone policy, which had been criticised as a burden on motorists.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraffic pollution in cities damages children\u2019s health and development,\u201d said Chris Griffiths, a professor of primary care at the University of Oxford and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), and the study\u2019s joint senior author.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe provide the strongest evidence yet on how these harms can be prevented. Ambitious clean-air zones should be considered a priority for cities globally with traffic-related air pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Air pollution from traffic has stunted the development of children\u2019s lungs in London for decades. Previous research found that by the age of eight or nine, children from the most polluted areas had 5-10% less lung capacity than their peers elsewhere.<\/p>\n
That impairment, which scientists said was the result of exposure to nitrogen dioxide, put them at increased risk as adults of developing respiratory diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, and premature death.<\/p>\n
Londoners\u2019 health was explicitly cited by the mayor, Sadiq Khan, to justify the introduction of Ulez \u2013 the world\u2019s largest and most ambitious low-emission zone \u2013 in 2019. At the time, the policy, while intuitively sensible, lacked evidence, but researchers at QMUL saw an opportunity.<\/p>\n
Before Ulez came into force, they recruited 1,664 children aged six to nine in London and 1,750 in Luton, which, as a town with a similar mix of traffic pollutants but no clean air zone, was used as a control.<\/p>\n
The team measured and monitored the children\u2019s size and health at annual school visits from 2018 to 2022 to assess how air quality changes after the introduction of Ulez had affected their lung development.<\/p>\n
Initial measurements showed children in London had significantly smaller lungs compared with those in Luton. But after Ulez came into force, the size and health of the London children\u2019s lungs improved until they were comparable with those of the children in Luton.<\/p>\n
The children\u2019s lung function improvements correlated strongly with air quality improvements. The researchers found that within five years of Ulez coming into force, the London children\u2019s exposure to nitrogen dioxide fell twice as fast and twice as much as that of the Luton children.<\/p>\n
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Writing in the Guardian on Tuesday, Khan said: \u201cIntroducing and expanding the Ulez involved some incredibly difficult decisions. I never took them lightly, but I knew that \u2013 as mayor \u2013 I could not stand by while Londoners young and old lost their lives to a problem it was within my power to solve.<\/p>\n