Did you know Birmingham is one of the UK's most polluted cities? We visited one of Birmingham playgrounds to uncover the impact and learn how Asthma + Lung UK is raising awareness and advocating for cleaner air for children to grow and thrive.
For more: https://www.birminghamworld.uk/news/birmingham-playground-air-pollution-children-4781027
For more: https://www.birminghamworld.uk/news/birmingham-playground-air-pollution-children-4781027
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NewsTranscript
00:00Yeah sure, so one of the key reasons why we chose Birmingham to come here today and raise
00:16awareness about air pollution is because we know Birmingham is one of the most polluted
00:20cities in the UK. It's nearly five times above what the World Health Organisation recommends
00:26as safe limits for our health. In terms of how it compares with other cities in the UK
00:32we also know that there's issues in Manchester, London, Bristol which are other cities that
00:39are also above these World Health Organisation limits. And so today we've taken a stand,
00:45chosen to come to this playground to raise awareness about the health impacts on children
00:51but we've also gone to Manchester and London to do the same thing.
00:57We have World Health Organisation guidelines that tell us essentially what we know to be
01:03safe for human health and in Birmingham these are 4.7 times higher than what is recommended
01:11by the World Health Organisation. So as a result of these elevated levels of pollution and prolonged
01:16exposure, especially for children who we know are the most vulnerable to the impacts of air
01:20pollution, we're seeing 25,000 children who have asthma in Birmingham. A lot of children are being
01:27hospitalised as a result of air pollution. We know that exposure to air pollution can stunt
01:33the growth of their lungs. Their lungs are still developing until they're 18 so any contact with
01:38pollution is going to have a long-lasting impact on their lungs. It's the children who already have
01:43lung conditions but we're growing increasingly more concerned for children that may develop
01:48lung conditions as a result of this exposure.
01:55We really want to make sure as an organisation, so we're Asthma and Lung UK, we work with people
01:59who have lung conditions across the UK, is that it's not always on the individual to take the
02:05action. We don't want all the onus to be on the individual but as an organisation we do provide
02:10health advice but also resources for parents to be able to understand what steps they can take
02:15for their children to lower their exposure to air pollution. So some of these steps include, but are
02:21not limited to, where you can, walking and cycling to school rather than using the car. Also the
02:29evidence shows that not walking next to busy roads when you can, changing your route if you're
02:35going commuting to work, if you're walking to school, if you're attending the playground, if you're
02:40able to walk on those slightly more quiet roads that's already going to be reducing your exposure.
02:46By quite a significant amount and also if your child does have a lung condition we really
02:51recommend always having their medication with them, make sure that they've always got their
02:56inhaler, especially when they're at school.
03:02We work regionally, we have a national campaign here at Asthma and Lung UK but we also have regional
03:07campaigns so we campaign a lot in the region within the West Midlands and in the past we've
03:12engaged with the West Midlands Combined Authority and we've welcomed some of their steps including
03:19the school streets. The council recently launched a new sensor network so that they can monitor air
03:25pollution outside the schools which we think is a really important step to be able to understand
03:30the issues around air pollution and how they're impacting children.
03:37We've engaged with the council really positively over the last few years and we've brought together
03:42grassroots campaigners to be able to raise awareness of the issues in the city and as a
03:48result of that we've helped spearhead a group called the Clean Air Justice Network which makes
03:54sure that everybody, especially those who are the most marginalised and the poorest communities, are
03:59protected against air pollution because we know that they're disproportionately impacted by air
04:06pollution, that's what the evidence shows, so it's really important for us in our campaign to be able
04:11to campaign to advocate for their rights and make sure that everybody is able to access clean air.
04:21...take a stand against air pollution and make sure that people and especially the government
04:28recognise that we're in some of the most polluted cities in the UK so again Manchester, Birmingham
04:34and London and we want the government to take action, put in place bolder targets and align
04:39these with the World Health Organization guidelines and we need to see that action
04:43urgently because we know that children wouldn't want to breathe dirty air in the
04:49same way that it's unacceptable for them to drink dirty water.