The Impact of Pollution on Health
There is a large consensus in the literature that meeting a threshold for air pollution levels is sufficient to guarantee health. Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) has set out specific thresholds for acceptable levels of pollution, which are used by governments across the world as golden standards. However, the human body is not naturally designed to live in continuously polluted environments. Research on the effects to health of air pollution have shown that individuals had higher life expectancy and improved lung functioning when exposed to lower levels of pollution, whilst they suffer higher prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders at higher levels
Recently, we have conducted a study on the effects of air pollution produced from works in a brownfield site on a community in Southall, London. Healthcare and local authorities have argued that the levels of air pollution emitted by the construction site are within WHO standards, therefore do not pose a risk to health according to traditional definitions of health. Nevertheless, the community has experienced significant adverse health effects, reporting increased prevalence of asthma and other respiratory diseases.
Our investigation has indicated that because of the history and daily stressors encountered by the community, the WHO pollution standards are not applicable, and lower “standards” should be achieved to protect the community’s health. Indeed the community is mostly composed of ethnic minority individuals and is one of the most deprived in the UK (lowest 10%). These facts indicate that systemic racism has forced the community to live in a highly deprived area, likely causing a dysregulated stress response in many individuals. This dysregulation has made the community more susceptible to air pollution, meaning that “standard” WHO guidelines cannot be applied here.
Resources:
Air Pollution and Health in Southall. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57a5a729414fb58fa3e0e0a6/t/5ebd02d24fa06d4c4cd00b20/1589445337817/Southall+Report.pdf (2020).
Ambient (outdoor) air pollution. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ambient-(outdoor)-air-quality-and-health.
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