London breaches annual air pollution limit for 2017 in just five days

London has breached its annual air pollution limits just five days into 2017, a “shameful reminder of the severity of London’s air pollution”, according to campaigners.

By law, hourly levels of toxic nitrogen dioxide must not be more than 200 micrograms per cubic metre more than 18 times in a whole year, but late on Thursday this limit was broken on Brixton Road in Lambeth.

Many other sites across the capital will go on to break the annual limit and Putney High Street exceeded the hourly limit over 1,100 times in 2016. Oxford Street, Kings Road in Chelsea and the Strand are other known pollution hotspots.

NO2 pollution, which is produced largely by diesel vehicles, causes 9,500 early deaths every year in London. Most air quality zones across the country break legal limits and the crisis was called a “public health emergency” by MPs in April. This week scientists said that one in 10 cases of Alzheimer’s in people living near busy roads could be linked to air pollution.

The new mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has pledged new measures and to double funding to £875m over five years to tackle the problem. But the UK government’s plans have twice been ruled illegal in the past two years and it has been sent back to the drawing board to develop a third strategy.

Alan Andrews, a lawyer at ClientEarth – the group that successfully sued the government – said: “This is another shameful reminder of the severity of London’s air pollution and shows why the mayor has rightly made tackling it a top priority. It is absolutely essential that he now delivers on his promises and that the national government back him to the hilt.”

Andrews, who lives in Brixton, said Khan had promised an expanded ultra-low emission zone in 2019, which limits polluting vehicles, and to deploy the cleanest buses on the most polluted roads.

NO2 pollution in London

How UK citites compare on nitrogen dioxide exceedance

“While these are vital steps in the right direction, we can’t wait another three years for action,” he said. “We need immediate action to cut pollution in the short-term and protect Londoners’ health during these pollution spikes.” In December, Khan issued air pollution alerts at bus stops, tube stations and roadsides due to high levels.

A spokesman for the mayor said: “The Brixton Road [breach] underscores why urgent action is needed to improve air quality across London.” He said Khan would shortly be announcing 10 new low emission bus zones, including one for Brixton Road.

“But this is not enough,” said the spokesman. “The government needs to match the Mayor’s commitment to improving air quality as quickly as possible.”

In December, Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City pledged to ban polluting diesel cars from their centres by 2025 and a number of cities outside the UK have already taken action such as banning cars on specific days or making public transport free.

The government must produce a new national plan by April and ClientEarth said this must include clean air zones in many areas to stop the dirtiest diesel cars entering pollution hotspots. ClientEarth also said the “peverse” financial incentives that encourage people to buy diesel cars rather than cleaner ones must be ended.

Both a national network of clean air zones and tax changes were proposed within government as part of its last plan, but were rejected by the Treasury.

This week new data also revealed that modern diesel cars produce 10 times more NO2 pollution than heavy trucks and buses per litre of fuel, which experts say is due to the much tougher testing faced by heavy vehicles.

London breaches annual air pollution limit for 2017 in just five days

Half of fizzy drinks have more sugar in one can than adult daily limit

Half of the fizzy drinks sold in supermarkets have more sugar in one can than an adult should consume in a day, with ginger beer as the worst offender, research has found.

New research reveals that 55% of all the carbonated drinks on sale in shops from Aldi to Waitrose contain more than 30 grams, or seven teaspoons, of sugar – the limit that everyone over the age of 11 is encouraged to stick to.

The high sugar content of such drinks is even worse when it comes to children’s health. A typical 330ml can of almost three out of four (73%) of the 169 products studied contained more than the 24g (six teaspoons) of sugar which official advice says is the most children aged seven to 10 should have over 24 hours.

Ginger beer contains the most sugar, according to the findings, which are published in the journal BMJ Open. The average sugar content across the 21 different types of branded and non-branded ginger beers studied was 38.5 grams, or 9.6 teaspoons, and 81% of them contained more than the 30g adult daily limit.

“It is disgraceful that so many children can access these products, which contain such staggering amounts of sugar, far in excess of their maximum allowance for the entire day. It is therefore not possible to state that these drinks can be consumed as part of a ‘healthy balanced diet’, even though drinks companies claim [they] can be”, said Kawther Hashem, a co-author of the study and researcher for the campaign group Action on Sugar based at Queen Mary University of London.

Flavoured colas were the second most heavily sugared. All four of the types tested had more than 30g of sugar and the average was 37.5g, or 9.4 teaspoons. They were followed by colas, fizzy orange drinks and cream soda, all of which contained on average more than 30g of sugar per 330ml.

The lowest amounts of sugar were found in elderflower, dandelion and burdock, lemonade and ginger ale. Hashem acknowledged that some manufacturers had already started reducing the sugar content of their fizzy drinks in advance of the government’s bringing in its planned sugar tax on such products.

Last week Tesco announced that it was cutting the amount of sugar in its own brand drinks to less than five grams per 100ml, the level at which the new levy is due to kick in. Ministers hailed the move as proof that the introduction of the tax is prompting beneficial change.

Suntory have also pledged that they will do the same, which will affect brands such as Lucozade and Ribena.

“It will be no surprise to most people that soft drinks contain a lot of sugar, but it’s the sheer amount of sugar that will come as a shock to many,” said a spokeswoman for the Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of charities and medical organisations. “Drinking just one can of ginger beer or cola, for example, would immediately take you over the daily recommended limit for sugar, and significantly over if you’re a child.”

Free sugars are simply “empty calories” which are “seriously endangering people’s health” and contributing to type 2 diabetes, tooth decay and obesity, she said. The alliance is encouraged to see manufacturers such as Tesco reducing the amount of sugar in their products and others pledging to do the same, she added.

Sarah Toule, head of health information at World Cancer Research Fund, said: “Over-consuming these high-calorie soft drinks with little nutritional value can lead to being overweight and obese, which can increase the risk of developing 11 common cancers in later life, including breast and prostate cancer.”

Half of fizzy drinks have more sugar in one can than adult daily limit

Belgium law on euthanasia for young children, with no age limit, will be 1st in globe

Belgium senate members voting last November on expanding the euthanasia law to minors. Photograph: Kristof Van Accom/AFP/Getty Pictures

Belgium is expected on Thursday to become the first country in the world to abolish all age restrictions on the proper to die, extending permitted euthanasia to terminally unwell youngsters.

Following months of unpleasant and divisive debate the Belgian parliament is anticipated to pass a law extending euthanasia – which has been feasible in the country for the past twelve many years – to minors.

Belgium is one of only 3 countries to have legalised euthanasia, the other people becoming Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The Dutch also enable minors the correct to die from the age of 12. Belgium will be the 1st to drop all age restrictions.

The contested legislation has already gone by way of the upper property of senate by a 3-one bulk and also passed parliament’s justice committee.

The centre-left, liberals and Greens are expected to support the extension, whilst components of the centre-correct, allied with the Catholic church, which opposes euthanasia, will vote against.

“It is not about deciding whether a youngster is or is not to die,” mentioned Daniel Baquelaine, an MP who backs the new law and who is also a medical doctor. “Death is coming rapidly. It is therefore needed to permit the youngster to express what he thinks of the finish of life, about how to die.”

The extension of the proper to die to minors is hedged with tight circumstances. The bill states that the youngster have to “be in a hopeless health-related scenario of constant and unbearable struggling that can’t be eased and which will cause death in the brief-term”.

Parental approval is necessary, despite the fact that it is not really clear what transpires if two mother and father of a kid disagree. Psychiatric and health-related suggestions is also essential.

Although no age limits are set, the bill says that the child must show “a capability of discernment and be conscious at the second of the request”.

It is not clear regardless of whether this principles out euthanasia for the very young. And the notion is contested by opponents.

A group of 160 paediatricians, opposed to offering kids the appropriate to die, explained: “In practice, there is no goal strategy for determining regardless of whether a child is gifted with the potential of discernment and judgment. This is truly a largely subjective evaluation and topic to influences.”

The heated debate has split the health-related, legal, and political professions, with the Catholic church staging prayer vigils in protest, and hospice and palliative care experts stating themselves generally opposed.

Opinion polls present public majority support for the radical move. The paediatricians have known as for a delay and more debate on the matter.

While supporters in the medical profession say this kind of euthanasia is probably to be applied only in a number of circumstances a year, the paediatricians claimed it was not necessary. They mentioned they had never faced such demands palliative care was now so sophisticated they could “totally handle the physical soreness, choking, or anxiety as they approach death”.

They extra that permitting euthanasia for young children would create unbearable anxiety for carers and family members.

“The care of critically ill young children is previously complicated ample. In this kind of situations, it is even much more challenging for health-related workers and the household to be additional faced with a particularly tough ethical choice. The extension of the law to youngsters will only boost their distress and anxiety.”

Supporters mentioned the bill would assist carry ethical clarity and near loopholes – this kind of as where medical doctors have been quietly acceding to little one euthanasia in excruciating circumstances but then dealing with prosecution for breaking the law.

There were 1,432 circumstances of euthanasia in 2012 in Belgium, in accordance to official figures.

“The existence of a law is the best signifies of guarding towards possible malpractice,” stated Le Soir, the primary French language newspaper in Belgium.

Belgium law on euthanasia for young children, with no age limit, will be 1st in globe