A coroner has made legal history by ruling that air pollution was a cause of the death of a nine-year-old girl.
Philip Barlow, the inner south London coroner, said Ella Kissi-Debrah’s death in February 2013 was caused by acute respiratory failure, severe asthma and air pollution exposure.
He said she was exposed to nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter (PM) pollution in excess of World Health Organization guidelines, the principal source of which were traffic emissions.
The coroner said the failure to reduce pollution levels to legal limits possibly contributed to her death, as did the failure to provide her mother with information about the potential for air pollution to exacerbate asthma.
Related: Ella Kissi-Debrah: how a mother’s fight for justice may help prevent other air pollution deaths
“Ella died of asthma contributed to by exposure to excessive air pollution,” said the coroner on Wednesday.
He said that during Ella’s life, nitrogen dioxide emissions in Lewisham, where she lived, exceeded legal limits, both EU and national levels. Particulate matter levels were above the WHO guidelines, he said.
“The whole of Ella’s life was lived in close proximity to highly polluting roads. I have no difficulty in concluding that her personal exposure to nitrogen dioxide and PM was very high.”
The coroner said the health effects of air pollution had been known for many years, and children and those with asthma were particularly at risk.
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