E-cigarette companies fined over false claims about toxic chemicals

Australia’s competition regulator has become the first in the world to successfully take legal action against e-cigarette companies for making false and misleading claims about the carcinogens in their products.

Federal court Justice John Gilmour ordered three online e-cigarette retailers – The Joystick Company Pty Ltd, Social-Lites Pty Ltd and Elusion Australia Ltd – and their individual CEOs and directors to pay penalties for breaching consumer law.

In separate proceedings the court found each of the companies had claimed their products did not contain harmful carcinogens and toxins, when this was not the case. It also found that the directors of Joystick and Elusion, and the CEO of Social-Lites, were knowingly involved in this deception.

Joystick and Social-Lites have been ordered to pay a penalty of $ 50,000, while the company heads have been ordered to pay $ 10,000. Elusion has been ordered to pay $ 40,000 and its director $ 15,000.

All three retailers admitted the conduct alleged by the ACCC and consented to the amounts of the penalties.

According to the case brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), statements on the company websites led consumers to believe they would not be exposed to the harmful chemicals found in ordinary cigarettes.

However independent testing commissioned by the ACCC identified the presence of carcinogens and toxic chemicals, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein in the products of Joystick, Social-Lites and Elusion, as well as acetone in Social-Lites’ products.

Formaldehyde is classified by the World Health Organisation International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 1A carcinogen, meaning it causes cancer, while acetaldehyde is classified as possibly carcinogenic. Acrolein is classified as a toxic chemical.

Dr Becky Freeman, a tobacco control researcher with the University of Sydney’s school of public health, said some consumers thought e-cigarette companies were “small artisan companies interested in improving health” when in fact most were owned by big tobacco.

Many advertisements for e-cigarettes and related products claimed they were less toxic and therefore less harmful than tobacco, she said. “But I’d challenge you to find something that isn’t less toxic than tobacco,” Freeman said. “We have no long-term data on e-cigarettes to show that they’ve help people quit for good or that they’re safe.”

The federal court ruling was “enormously significant”, said Simon Chapman, an emeritus professor of public health. He was aware that other complaints about e-cigarette advertising have been made to the ACCC. “These are by no means isolated examples,” Chapman said.

“Tobacco companies want to walk on both sides of the street. They try to argue that e-cigarettes are simply an ordinary consumer product and not a therapeutic device and therefore shouldn’t be subject to the same regulations, yet they often make statements that these things are excellent ways of quitting.”

He said it was “insulting to science” to claim the products were harmless or safe given the lack of evidence about long-term effects.

“Of course they don’t have all the products of combustion that tobacco products have, as they are vaporised and not burned. So while they’re likely to be less harmful, we do not yet know the magnitude of their harm, we just have no accurate way of estimating that yet,” said Chapman.

The ACCC’s acting chair, Delia Rickard, said businesses, including those online, must ensure they provide accurate information to customers and have a reasonable basis for making any claims. “This is particularly important for products that may cause harm to the health of consumers,” she said.

E-cigarette companies fined over false claims about toxic chemicals

Tobacco and Cannabis Discovered to be Toxic Aluminum Accumulators

Just when you thought it was safe, we now know cannabis is rich in aluminum, adding to the body burden of this toxic metal. I have mentioned previously that aluminum is NOT an inert metal as many people assume. Far from it.

Aluminum in many ways is very similar in toxicity to mercury. So how is it that we find aluminum (Al) in marijuana? How did it get there? Let’s go to Dr Exley from the UK as he reveals to us this strange phenomenon, other rich sources for Al and possible implications.

It is perhaps less well known that tobacco and cannabis are significant sources of biologically available Al [aluminum] (Exley et al., 2006). For example, when you smoke a cigarette you excrete Al in your urine. Al is a major contaminant of food (Saiyed & Yokel, 2005). It is also a known contaminant of parenteral solutions. Recreational drugs including heroin and cocaine can also be significant routes of exposure to Al (Exley et al., 2007). It was recently demonstrated that sunscreens and sunblocks may contain significant amounts of Al such that one might apply up to 5 g of Al onto the skin surface during an average day on the beach. Little is known about the biological availability of Al in such products but it has to be asked if they could contribute towards the high rate of melanoma found in populations using large amounts of sunscreens/sunblocks regularly (Nicholson & Exley, 2007)? Worryingly we are still exposing the most vulnerable members of society, pre- and post-term infants, to very high levels of Al in infant formulas (Burrell & Exley, 2010).[1] [Emphasis mine].

Al can accumulate in these plants if there is any Al in the soil, or during manufacturing and processing of cannabis. Strangely enough, even concentrates contain Al! In addition to the information provided above, Dr Exley, in a different publication, had this to say:

“Aluminum (Al) is the major trace metal constituent of tobacco. Jamaican cottage industry tobacco includes an exceptional 0.8-2.6 mg Al/g tobacco. Exceptional because the tobacco plant, unlike, for example, the tea plant, is not considered an aluminum accumulator (0.1% Al by weight

in leaves)…We looked at the same for cannabis, as its content of aluminum also is reported to be high (2.4-3.7 mg Al/g marijuana).

Tobacco and cannabis are hitherto unrecognized potent contributors to the body burden of aluminum. Aluminum that is inhaled either from active or passive smoking is biologically available and is likely to be absorbed systemically.

Aluminum entering the lung and the olfactory system as either particulates or gaseous complexes may contribute toward smoking-related disease including asthma and neurological dysfunction.” [2] [Emphasis mine]

If one were to eat Al, he or she would excrete much of it in the urine. However, if it was injected, (vaccines use nanoaluminum) or in this case smoked, much of the Al will stay in your body. In time, aluminum becomes embedded into the lymph nodes, spleen, brain, and other organs, where it may reside for decades, or possibly forever.

Al is a powerful pro-oxidant. As such it oxidizes macromolecules within the body. Al is also an excitotoxin. It generates excitotoxicity­–excessive neuronal excitation leading to death of the neuron. In my book I reveal that compelling research is now demonstrating that Al, in addition to other problems, plays a role in the neurodegenerative diseases Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS. It can also generate autoimmunity.

So how does this play out for the average medical marijuana user? The truth is that we simply do not know, yet. If we look at populations such as the Rastafarian communities in Jamaica who use cannabis regularly, we do not see an increase in neurodegeneration. But one must question whether this truly is a green light to use cannabis.

What we should be doing is engaging the lab analysis community into testing marijuana for Al contamination in the same way they now test for pesticides, mold, cannabinoids, and terpenes.

Once established, we will know how prevalent this problem is. Dr Exley used pot that was confiscated by British police. If this is a widespread contaminant we may be in for more than we bargained for.

As cannabis becomes legal worldwide we need to know more about this unusual and surprising finding. Let’s thank Dr Exley for exposing the problem.

Incidentally, Exley does provide a possible treatment (see book for details). Drink silicon-rich mineral water. Volvic and Fiji contain the most. Silicon binds to the Al atom and allows it to be excreted in the urine, (personal correspondence with Dr Exley).

[1] Exley, C., ‘Human Exposure to Aluminium,’ Environ. Sci.; Processes & Impacts, 2013, 15, 1807-1816. (also see: Exley, Chris, PhD. Vaccine Safety Conference 2011 transcript, ‘A Mechanism of Toxicity of Aluminium-based Adjuvants?’ (http://www.vaccinesafetyconference.com/videos.html) 05/02/2016)

[2] Exley, Chris PhD, et al., ‘Aluminum in Tobacco and Cannabis and Smoke Related Disease,’ The American Journal of Medicine (2006) 119, 276.e9-276.e11

Dr Rasmussen is an anesthesiologist by trade and holds a Master’s degree in traditional Chinese medicine. He is an assistant professor, continuous education and seminar provider, personal trainer, life coach, lecturer, and author. He specializes in lifestyle modification and preventive medicine. His two websites are www.adaptiveTCM.com and www.inflaNATION.com. For consultation he can be reached at cjrmd1@gmail.com. His new book which reveals the true perils of vaccination: ‘You’re Next: Lies, Corruption and the Dirty Business of Vaccines, is now available everywhere.

Tobacco and Cannabis Discovered to be Toxic Aluminum Accumulators

Splenda – toxic carcinogenic sweetener you should avoid

Non-nutritive sweeteners such as Splenda have become an important part of everyday life and are increasingly used nowadays in a variety of dietary and medicinal products. They provide fewer calories and more intense sweetness than sugar-containing products.

Common artificial sweeteners aspartame, saccharine, sucralose, neotame, and acesulfame-K have received a ‘safe status’ from the FDA. However, they are not so safe, and some of them can be very dangerous. If you are still using artificial sweeteners, you may be slowly killing yourself.

You can find Artificial Sweeteners not only in our food and beverages, but in a variety of other products such as toothpastes, mouthwashes, medicines (often in cough syrup and other OTC), children’s chewable vitamins, chewing gums, diet drinks, a variety of sweets, protein drinks, canned food and many more (literally thousands of products). Sadly, some of these sweeteners are now common contaminant in our tap water.

These agents are claimed to promote weight loss and are promoted as a safe alternative for diabetics. However, research data indicates that artificial sweeteners tend to lead to weight gain, and are not suitable for diabetics at all.

There are plenty of natural healthy products you can use in place of sugar and artificial sweeteners.

You probably heard about aspartame dangers, but let’s take a closer look at dangers of Sucralose:

1. WHAT IS IT AND WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT

Sucralose (Marketed under the name Splenda), 600 times sweeter than sugar – a better alternative to NutraSweet? Not so much.
You can find sucralose in yogurts, protein bars and drinks, frozen desserts, syrups, diet beverages, kettle corn, prepared meals and baked goods such as English muffins (this sweetener is one of the few not so sensitive to heat). Please be careful when purchasing ‘natural healthy’ products as well, because some of them may contain sucralose. I have seen it in chewable vitamins for kids, elderberry tablets and so on, always read the ingredient list carefully.

Splenda has been promoted as a better alternative to refined white sugar and advertised for a long time as “made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar.”

Yes, Sucralose is derived from sugar; however, its preparation involves chlorinating sucrose, changing the structure of the sugar molecules. Yes, chlorine, known carcinogen and one of the most toxic chemicals on the planet. This type of sugar molecule does not occur in the nature, and your body cannot properly metabolize it. Also, your body absorbs Sucralose into your fat cells.

”Sucralose (Splenda) bears more chemical similarity to DDT than it does to sugar.” (According to Dr. Mercola)

2. A BRIEF HISTORY

Splenda has been approved in the United States in 1998. When sucralose was first being considered for approval by the FDA, CSPI objected. The pre-approval test indicated potential toxicity, but again – approved! Pre-approval research in animals showed that sucralose caused shrunken thymus glands (up to 40% shrinkage – important immune system regulator) and enlarged liver and kidneys. Its long-term safety is unknown (but it will NOT be anything good for sure).

In 2013, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) placed Splenda in its “caution” category and had formally recommended that consumers should avoid sucralose altogether. A recent update from 2016 – CSPI Downgrades Sucralose from “Caution” to “Avoid”! This action was an answer for the latest 2016 independent Italian laboratory study, which published extensive research on mice. The study found that sucralose caused leukemia and related blood cancers in male mice.

3. WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANT

The artificial sweetener sucralose has recently been shown to be a widespread of contaminant of wastewater, surface water, and groundwater. In fact, sucralose has been found in the U.S. drinking water systems. Recent research found that sucralose has a low rate of removal (11%) in drinking water tested that presently serves 28 million people.
The sweetener was found to be present in:

The source water of 15 out of 19 of drinking water treatment plants tested
The finished water of 13 out of 17 plants, and
In 8 out of 12 water distribution systems.

Sucralose is largely resistant to natural breakdown processes and accumulates in the environment with unknown consequences for human and environmental health.

”Though sucralose does not appear toxic to plant growth, the persistent qualities of sucralose may lead to chronic low-dose exposure with largely unknown consequences for human and environmental health.” Sucralose represents an ecotoxicological contaminant that significantly affects the behavior of animals: “Exposed organisms may diverge from normal behavior, which ultimately can have ecological consequences.”

4. NEGATIVE HEALTH EFFECTS

Splenda can promote migraine headaches, and other reported side effects include muscle aches, stomach cramps and nausea, allergic reactions, bladder issues, skin irritation, dizziness, inflammation, vision problems, neurological problems and much more (including Seizures). Sucralose long-term intake can lead to serious chronic conditions and disorders. There are several testimonials by people from all over the world about The Potential Dangers of Sucralose.

Another study found that sucralose significantly reduced healthy intestinal bacteria (up to 50%!). It also alters gut microflora and mess with your enzymes as well, so it essentially wrecks our immune system. In addition, it increases the pH level in the intestines. This could have a range of consequences, including effects on blood sugar, inflammatory bowel disease and more. In fact, a study says that: “Increased sucralose consumption may explain why Canada has the highest incidence of inflammatory bowel disease in the world.”

Unlike aspartame, sucralose does not break down at high temperatures. However, by cooking and baking Splenda a cancer-causing dioxins and dioxin-like compounds are formed.

• Sucralose is carcinogenic and otherwise toxic in rats.


• Splenda has possible neurotoxic properties in animals.


• There is also a possibility of DNA Damage over long term exposure.


• It has diabetes-promoting effects in human subjects.

”It is like putting a pesticide in your body. And this is at levels of intake erroneously approved by the Food and Drug Administration.” (According to James Turner, the chairman of the national consumer education group Citizens for Health.)

5. BREAST MILK CONCERN

Also, sucralose passes into breast milk at levels high enough to make the milk sweeter. Saccharin, sucralose, and acesulfame-potassium were present in 65% of participants’ milk samples, whereas aspartame was not.
Therefore, pregnant and nursing women should make a special effort to avoid aspartame, ace-K, Sucralose and other artificial sweeteners.

6. SAFETY

Splenda has NEVER been proven safe for human consumption. According to Johnson & Johnson, which markets Splenda, “more than 110 studies conducted over 20 years have proven the safety of sucralose.” You mean the studies which were funded by companies with the sole interest in the product being used and to maximize the profits? Moreover, ”out of these 110 studies, only two were human studies, and the longest one was only four days (and in relation to tooth decay!)” Also, those animal studies reveal plenty of problems such as:

• Increased male infertility


• Decreased red blood cells (sign of anemia)


• Enlarged and calcified kidneys


• Higher death rate in rabbits

and more..

Long-term effects on humans is a severe issue. If something causes cancer and other serious health problems in rodents in the studies, it is undoubtedly a reason for concern!
CSPI recommends that consumers avoid sucralose.

Let’s take a quick look at few natural alternatives:

• ORGANIC MAPLE SYRUP


• ORGANIC COCONUT SUGAR


• WILD RAW HONEY

some others :
-MOLASSES
-DATE SUGAR
-STEVIA
-MONK FRUIT

From all these natural alternatives, I always recommend the ‘organic version.’ I use only real manuka honey as a sweetener, and if occasionally baking I use coconut sugar (date sugar is good too!), I eat plenty of organic fruits so no need for more unnecessary sugars.

Conclusion:

Sucralose does not seem to be as safe as the FDA is trying to believe us and you should avoid it. Also, keep in mind that Xylitol, Sorbitol, and other sugar alcohols are life-threatening toxins to dogs! Don’t forget that you can find artificial sweeteners not only in our foods and medicine, but in many other products, so switching to ‘raw honey’ alternatives is a critical step, but another major step is to get rid of all the products containing them and look for healthy natural alternatives. With all the toxins, chemicals, and heavy metals everywhere and in almost everything, it is imperative to start slowly eliminating these threats to your health. Also, keep in mind that Splenda is now present in our tap water, so filtering your water with hi-quality filter systems is becoming essential.

---

Sources:

1. Artificial sweeteners linked to weight gain.


2. Artificial Sweeteners and Cancer.


3. Sucralose.


4. Artificial sweetener sucralose in U.S. drinking water systems.


5. Splenda alters gut microflora..


6. Study links Splenda to higher risk of leukemia.


7. The effect of five artificial sweeteners on Caco-2, HT-29 and HEK-293 cells.


8. Artificial sweeteners as a sugar substitute: Are they really safe?


9. Artificial sweeteners – a review.


10. CSPI’s ‘Chemical Cuisine’ Rates Artificial Sweeteners.


11. The Bitter Truth About Splenda.

Natural Health Investigator at MAHAJEK

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Splenda – toxic carcinogenic sweetener you should avoid

Plight of child workers facing cocktail of toxic chemicals exposed by report

Children as young as eight, working in the tanneries of Bangladesh producing leather that is in demand across Europe and the USA, are exposed to toxic chemical cocktails that are likely to shorten their lives, according to a new report.

Approximately 90% of those who live and work in the overcrowded urban slums of Hazaribagh and Kamrangirchar, where hazardous chemicals are discharged into the air, streets and river, die before they reach 50, according to the World Health Organisation.

Their plight spurred the volunteer doctors of Médicines Sans Frontières (MSF) to set up clinics in the area to diagnose and treat those who are the victims of their workplace. It is, says a paper published in BMJ Case Reports, “the first time they have intervened in an area for reasons other than natural disasters or war”.

MSF’s intervention was triggered by “the widespread industrial negligence and apathy of owners of tanneries and other hazardous material factories” towards the more than 600,000 largely migrant population who have no access to government-funded healthcare.

MSF set up and ran four main clinics for 5,000 workers in 2015, located in the centre of communities involved in four different manufacturing processes at factories for tanning, plastics recycling, garment-making and metals.

The hazards of the 250 or so tanneries in Hazaribagh – which are 30 to 35 years old and discharge 6,000 cubic metres of toxic effluent and 10 tonnes of solid waste every day – are best known. In 2012, Human Rights Watch produced a report called “Toxic Tanneries” which revealed the flouting of Bangladesh’s own laws as well as international law in the employment of children under 18 in work that is harmful or hazardous.

The factories douse animal skins in cauldrons of chemicals as part of the processing of “Bengali black” leather, which is exported to European leather goods manufacturers in Italy, Spain and elsewhere.

“Apart from heavy metals like chromium, cadmium, lead and mercury, a conglomerate of chemicals are discharged by the tanneries into the environment,” says the paper. “Workers aged eight and older are soaked to the skin, breathing the fumes for most of the day and eat and live in these surroundings throughout the year. Personal protective equipment [is] not provided.”

Child workers clad in no more than loin cloths and wellington boots are exposed to chemicals including formaldehyde, hydrogen sulphide and sulphuric acid, write Venkiteswaran Muralidhar, associate professor at the Sri Balaji Medical college in Chennai, and colleagues.

The other factories– for plastics recycling, garments and metals – are in Kamrangirchar, an urban slum which is not officially part of Dhaka city. “In these, there are complex risk hazards from cotton dust, heavy metals and chemicals like mercury, phthalates, acids and dioxins and ergonomic hazards,” says the paper.

Chronic skin and lung diseases are common, say the authors. Within six months of the setting up of the clinics, 3,200 of the 5,000 eligible workers had come forward for at least one consultation. Among them, 468 (14.6%) were diagnosed with suspected work-related diseases, and 30 (0.9%) had work-related injuries.

The figures do not reflect the overall harm to the population, however, said Muralidhar. Those who are severely injured by chemicals or accidents would not go to one of the clinics. “They will probably be taken by rickshaw to a hospital in Dhaka,” he told the Guardian. And the clinics were only open four days a week, during the daytime, and workers needed the owner’s permission to go for a consultation.

He feels strongly that a hospital should be set up in the slum to help its people. “They are the most horrible conditions you can imagine,” he told the Guardian. “I work in this area. I have never seen anything as bad as this.”

Plight of child workers facing cocktail of toxic chemicals exposed by report

Revealed: thousands of children at London schools breathe toxic air

Tens of thousands of children at more than 800 schools, nurseries and colleges in London are being exposed to illegal levels of air pollution that risk causing lifelong health problems, the Guardian can disclose.

A study identifies 802 educational institutions where pupils as young as three are being exposed to levels of nitrogen dioxide that breach EU legal limits and which the government accepts are harmful to health.

The research, commissioned by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, suggests thousands more children and young people are at risk from toxic air than previously thought.

Khan said the results were devastating and warned that it was the capital’s poorest children who were bearing the brunt of the air pollution crisis.

“It is an outrage that more than 800 schools, nurseries and other educational institutions are in areas breaching legal air pollution limits,” he said.

“This is an environmental challenge, a public health challenge but also – and no one talks about this – it is fundamentally an issue of social justice. If you are a poor Londoner you are more likely to suffer from illegal air.”

Khan called for the government to introduce a clean air act and for a diesel scrappage scheme to take polluting cars off the road quickly.

Sadiq Khan: ‘We are evaluating the success of other cities … Nothing is off the table.’ Photograph: Dinendra Haria/Rex/Shutterstock

The results show nearly double the number of schools than previously thought are affected by illegal levels of toxic air. A report that was kept secret by former mayor Boris Johnson revealed last year 433 primaries were exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution.

The new data shows 802 out of 3261 nurseries, primary and secondary schools and higher education colleges, are within 150 metres of nitrogen dioxide pollution levels that exceed the EU legal limit of 40µg/m³ (40 micrograms per cubic metre of air).

A third of state nursery schools in the capital (27), nearly 20% of primaries (360) and 18% of secondary schools (79) are in areas where toxic levels of nitrogen dioxide threaten children’s health. Of the further education colleges in the capital, 43% (30) were in areas of illegally toxic levels of NO₂.

Nurseries map

Traffic is a major contributor to air pollution and there is growing concern about emissions from diesel vehicles, which contribute through the production of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides (NO_x).

Dr Francis Gilchrist, consultant respiratory paediatrician at Royal Stoke University hospital, said it was known that children were particularly sensitive to air pollution and that lung damage had lifelong consequences.

“If something is not done about air pollution these issues are going to get worse and worse. There is definitely concern that air pollution is affecting children’s lungs – in particular it exacerbates respiratory illness, like asthma, and it predisposes children who are healthy to having repeated chest infections,” he said.

“If you damage your lungs in childhood you are likely to see these effects right through into adulthood, so there is a lifelong impact.”

Khan hopes the introduction of what he says is the world’s first ultra-low emission zone will cut toxic NO₂ emissions from diesel vehicles by 50%. He plans to extend the zone to the north and south circular roads in the capital and has brought its introduction forward a year to 2019.

Last week he announced that drivers ofolder, more polluting cars will have to pay a £10 charge to drive in central London from October.

But other cities – including Paris, Athens and Madrid – have announced more dramatic measures, introducing car-free days and bans on diesel cars from city boundaries.

Khan said he had not ruled anything out. “We are evaluating the success of other cities. We are looking at their plans and nothing is off the table. But at the moment we think our plans are the most effective.”

London is not alone in the UK in facing an air pollution crisis. Khan and the leaders of four other cities badly affected by poor air quality – Leeds, Birmingham, Derby and Nottingham – had written to the government calling on them to do more to tackle the problem across the UK.

“It must be the case that air quality in other cities is having a similar impact and that it is worse in the most deprived parts of those cities. It must impact on schools in the same way, but they do not have the information that is now available in London. The government must take action,” he said.

The new research on schools, nurseries and colleges was based on modelling of data from 2013 carried out by experts from the environmental research group at King’s College London and Aether, the environmental data analysts.

The modelling is more precise than the government’s measurements, which the high court has condemned as overoptimistic.

School NO2 table

Judges told ministers last November they must cut the illegal levels of NO₂ in dozens of towns and cities in the shortest possible time after ruling their plans to improve air quality were so poor they were unlawful.

The government has until April to come up with proposals to bring before the court.

The study adds to the pressure on ministers to tackle air pollution amid growing evidence of a toxic air crisis in parts of the UK. London breached its annual air pollution limits just five days into 2017.

Last month Khan issued the first “very high” air pollution alert with warnings displayed at bus stops, train stations and road signs across the capital.

This year Khan gave £250,000 to fund 50 air quality audits at the worst affected primary schools. The money will allow schools to work with local councils to introduce measures to protect pupils from toxic air and could include banning the most polluting cars at drop-off and pick-up time, clean air routes for walking to school, green barriers and moving entrances away from busy roads.

Air pollution causes up to 50,000 early deaths – 9,000 of these in the capital – and costs the country £27.5bn each year, according to a government estimate. MPs have called it a public health emergency.

Khan is calling for ministers to introduce a comprehensive diesel scrappage scheme to compensate drivers who bought diesel cars after being told they were more environmentally friendly than petrol vehicles. He also wants the government to introduce a clean air act “fit for the 21st century”.

“Today people scratch their heads that 30 or 40 years ago we knew smoking was bad for your health but no action was taken,” he said. “I don’t want a situation now where in 20 or 30 years’ time our children or grandchildren say knew about air quality but no action was taken.

“I want London to be the envy of the world in relation to air quality, to be the greenest city in the world.”

‘Some days it makes me consider leaving London’

The playground at Tachbrook nursery school in Pimlico, west London, has lots to keep a three-year-old happy at breaktime.

But, like other schools highlighted in the report, it is very close to a busy main road. HGVs, cars, taxis and buses plough up and down the Embankment nearby, and so the school is subject to NO₂ pollution levels above EU legal limits.

Headteacher Elizabeth Hillyard said she had signed a petition along with other headteachers in the capital urging more to be done about toxic air.

“Air pollution has bad effects on health and it needs to be addressed and all the heads in Westminster have signed the petition,” she said.

Like other schools, Tachbrook does what it can to protect children, including having a fence around the playground. Kate Lyons, a parent collecting her three-year-old son, said the issue was a concern.

“We are generally concerned about the air in this area,” Lyons said. “You can feel it and taste it. My little boy loves playing in the playground at school, and it does worry me.

“We live nearby and sleep with our windows closed because of the pollution. We used to live in Edinburgh and you can feel the difference living here in London and some days it is something that makes me consider leaving.”

Additional reporting by Caelainn Barr

Revealed: thousands of children at London schools breathe toxic air

Bad fad – Ruby Tandoh on how clean eating turned toxic

‘I think we have an obsession with diets. With fad diets.” This was Ella Mills, the food writer behind Deliciously Ella and bestselling author of arguably the most successful fad diet cookbook series in recent years. Her eponymous first book was the UK’s fastest-selling debut cookbook ever, and she has since gone on to launch two central-London delis, create her own range of “energy balls” and even release a skincare range in collaboration with Neal’s Yard. Speaking on last Friday’s Today programme, the blogger was keen to distance herself from so-called “clean eating” and, cleverly, from the crescendo of criticism surrounding the trend.

“I’ve never described myself as ‘clean’,” said Mills, nimbly shadow-boxing with a litheness that probably shouldn’t surprise us, coming from a 25-year-old yogi. She described her frustration at being dubbed the “queen of clean”, and was quick to point out the moralistic overtones that language such as “clean eating” ascribes to food. It was a smart move, preempting the backlash that would come from that evening’s premiere of the BBC documentary Horizon: Clean Eating – The Dirty Truth.

Ella Mills was dubbed the queen of clean, but now she shuns the term. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

It wasn’t long ago that clean eating seemed untouchable. This new philosophy, popularised by bloggers such as Mills, the Hemsley sisters and Amelia Freer, was roughly the idea that we should eat less processed food and more fruit and veg. It was about doing away with junk food, and staging a return to a more thoughtful way of eating. So far, so sensible, you might think. Although not all of the bloggers used the exact phrase “clean eating”, their approaches fell into step with its core beliefs: slimness is health, health is everything, and – crucially – diets are bad.

Cannily dodging the restrictive and judgement-laden overtones of the dreaded D-word, this generation of cooks was vocal in eschewing old-fashioned diet terminology. The Hemsley sisters’ grain-free manifesto, The Art of Eating Well, wasn’t a diet book, then, but a way to achieve some kind of seductively slinky “wellness”. Healthy-eating guru Madeleine Shaw encouraged us not to count calories, but to “get the glow”. “This isn’t a diet for me; it’s a lifestyle,” Mills told us. It was a world of beauty, happiness and self-love, all bundled lucratively together under the vague banner of wellness. It was worth a fortune.

With their profits and media presence blossoming, however, it wasn’t long before these self-appointed health gurus came under scrutiny. The Hemsleys were incriminated by their support of Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride’s gut and psychology syndrome (Gaps) diet which is as credible as a fortune teller on Southend Pier.The sisters had praised the doctor’s book – Gaps: Natural Treatment for Autism, ADD/ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Depression, Schizophrenia – in a feature on their publisher Penguin’s website about the five books that shaped their food philosophy. (The article in question has since been deleted.)

Natasha Corrett, author of the bestseller Honestly Healthy, was embarrassed last week by the revelation that the inspiration for her alkaline diet, Dr Robert O Young, is facing jail time for practising medicine without a licence. Horizon revealed that Young took more than £62,000 in payment from the family of cancer patient Naima Houder-Mohammed in return for a “cure” of injections of bicarbonate of soda solution. Houder-Mohammed’s condition worsened during her time in Young’s care and she died at 27. Alongside such outright crooks and villains as Young, the hapless Mills doesn’t look so bad.

The Hemsley sisters have been linked to the controversial Gaps diet. Photograph: Channel 4

With the wellness movement coming under fire, it is no surprise that the big names in clean eating are beginning to worry. Across dozens of perfectly glowing, smooth-skinned brows, a glimmer of sweat is beginning to prickle: it’s time to rebrand, or duck out.

As in any argument where money and pride are at stake, it has become a game of semantics. “What even is clean eating after all? I never said I was clean! I’m about purity, not eating clean!” It’s Ross and Rachel going on a “break” all over again. The only way to stay afloat is redefine. When the Hemsley sisters spoke out against clean eating at the launch of their Good to Go food pop-up in Selfridges earlier this month, they were doing just that. “It is a media-coined term,” Jasmine Hemsley insisted. “We have never, ever used the phrase ‘clean eating’.”

This shape-shifting shouldn’t come as a shock. The big players in the wellness movement are just following the principles that drove wellness into the mainstream in the first place: they’re putting a bright new face on the diet industry. When a fad wears thin, you give it a new name. It’s the logic that sent the wholefood 70s careering into the lean and low-fat 80s. It’s how the Atkins diet shed its tired skin to become Wheat Belly, Grain Brain and the multi-million dollar renaissance of low-carb cooking. It’s the constant ebb and flow of diets, precarious health claims and a trend-driven food press, all underpinned by an unfaltering disdain for fat bodies.

Behind the pretty public face of wellness is a far bigger beast. With the exception of fitness guru Joe Wicks, the overwhelming majority of wellness personalities are young women, and it is these women who rise to and eventually fall from grace in the public eye. And yet the machinery of these fads is constructed largely by a small group of men. These are the doctors – self-styled or otherwise – who spin questionable academic studies, patchworks of data and sometimes little more than fanciful anecdotes into best-selling diet industry manifestos.

With the exception of fitness guru Joe Wicks, the overwhelming majority of wellness personalities are young women. Photograph: Channel 4

In contrast to the wellness cooks on our TV screens, these men have credentials to lend weight to the claims they make. There is cardiologist William Davis, whose bestseller Wheat Belly set into motion the anti-grain brigade. There is also “renowned neurobiologist” David Perlmutter, a dull facsimile of Davis. His cynically samey Grain Brain, another low-carb polemic. In a touching display of tenderness, Dr Michael Greger named his 2016 diatribe against junk food How Not to Die. If the science behind wellness is suspect, the blame falls at the feet of these men.

That is not to say that wellness personalities are undeserving of the criticism they face. Those who peddle these nutritional myths ought to be held to account, no matter where in the food chain of bullshit they stand. But hitting out at the salespeople of this pseudoscience without looking to the producers is like buying stocks and shares in the wizard of Oz. It could be that these young women – all perky, pretty and privileged – are the easy targets of our lazy misogyny, or simply that it is easiest at which to level our ire at the most visible proponents of the wellness fad. Either way, it is clear that, unless it is hit at its core, the movement will trundle on, evolving into new and noxious forms of diet culture in different guises.

A share of the blame lies with publishers, too. At a time when money is rare in publishing, editors are digging deep to offer book deals to wellness gurus, no matter the credibility of their claims.

Teenage ballerina Saskia Gregson-Williams’s debut endorsed a needlessly restrictive diet. Photograph: PR

In 2015, Ebury Press published Naturally Sassy by then 17-year-old ballerina and food blogger Saskia Gregson-Williams. The meat-, dairy- and wheat-free cookbook was her debut. She describes having found comfort by learning to cook when she was living away from home as a young teenager while studying at the Royal Ballet School. It was a route out of fixation on the low-fat, low-calorie diets that the other dancers espoused. There is no doubt that Gregson-Williams believes in the healing powers of clean eating. What is less clear is how the publishers were able to justify endorsing a needlessly restrictive diet, from a ballerina (a profession notorious for fostering eating disorders) and then marketing it to impressionable teenage girls.

There are many toxic layers to the wellness phenomenon. It is no coincidence that the faces of wellness are unfailingly young and thin, overwhelmingly white and all the talk of purity against that backdrop of privilege leaves a rather unsavoury taste in the mouth. Wellness is also the unprincipled driftings of the publishing houses with whatever currents lead them to a quick buck. It is the evangelism of wellness bloggers, picking up and shrugging off whatever label will give them the most page views. At its core, it is idea that food is medicine.

It all sounds silly when the fictions of wellness are brought together: gluten is poison; sugar is crack; acidity is cancer; terminal illnesses are no longer terminal. But these sensational claims reach us by insidious means, and those who suggest we ought to just use some common sense underestimate just how muddled the truth about food really is. So, many of us will, at some point or another, turn to the false prophets of the diet industry to cure the ills that our health service is too stretched and too underfunded to deal with. We might become evangelists for wheatgrass for a while, or sing the praises of some superfood that “cured” a dodgy knee. We might laugh these fads off, in time, just as the wellness personalities slip out of their skins and into the next big craze.

We have an obsession with diets. With fad diets. There is no miracle cure, but there is a way to push back: call them as you see them. Wellness is a fad diet. Clean eating is a fad diet. If it promises salvation on a plate, it is a fad diet. Hold the wellness gurus accountable, let them know that their diet is a diet. Make them eat their words.

Five wellness superfoods that aren’t actually that super (according to dietitian Helen Bond)

Coconut oil “One of the few plant oils that is loaded with saturated fat – it has more saturated fat than butter. While advocates argue that it doesn’t have the same detrimental impact on blood cholesterol levels, it still raises total and LDL (bad cholesterol) in our blood.”

Matcha powder “No health claims have been approved for matcha or green tea by the European Food Safety Authority, so it cannot be advertised as having any proven health benefits.”

Coconut water “A 200ml glass would provide the same amount of potassium as one medium banana. Tap water will hydrate you just the same and it is calorie, sugar and cost free.”

Goji berries “The antioxidants in goji berries don’t seem to arrive in our circulation in high enough quantities to have an effect. Plus, the berries are not as high in vitamin C as other fruits.”

Spirulina “This is a rich plant source of vitamin B12, usually only found in animal foods – but spirulina is only eaten in very small amounts, so it won’t contribute much to your overall vitamin B12 intake and it is not absorbed well by the body.”

In numbers

• £627m The value of the free-from market in 2016, according to market research firm Mintel. Growth of 52% is predicted over the 2016-21 period, to see the market reach £952m.

• 27,595,369 The number of posts on Instagram with #cleaneating

• £3tr Estimated value of the global wellness economy in 2015

• 495,191 Books sold by Ella Mills, AKA Deliciously Ella

• 219,158 Books sold by Amelia Freer, author of Eat. Nourish. Glow

• 186,477 Books sold by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley, authors of The Art of Eating Well

• 122,123 Books sold by Madeleine Shaw, author of Get the Glow: Delicious and Easy Recipes that will nourish you from the Inside Out, and Ready, Steady, Glow; Fresh, Fast Food Designed for Life

• 100, 247 Books sold Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson, authors of Honestly Healthy: Eat with Your Body in Mind, the Alkaline Way

Bad fad – Ruby Tandoh on how clean eating turned toxic

Jersey monitors threat from toxic sea lettuce fumes

Authorities in the Channel Islands are looking at ways to protect residents and visitors from toxic beach gases after the death of a jogger in France that has been linked to the fumes from rotting seaweed.

The government of Jersey said on Monday it was considering the installation of devices to check gas levels from deposits of sea lettuce. Warning signs could also be erected on affected coastlines to tell people of the potential danger posed by rotting green algae.

Jean-René Auffray collapsed while jogging at a river estuary in Brittany, about 50 miles south-west of Jersey. French authorities concluded he died of a heart attack. But they are exploring the theory that he may have been overcome by sea lettuce fumes, following pressure from environment experts.

Sea lettuce exposed at low tide in Swanage, Dorset. Photograph: FLPA/Alamy

Gas from decomposing sea lettuce in northern France has been linked to the deaths of wild boars in 2011 and a horse in 2009.

St Aubin’s Bay in Jersey often has sea lettuce infestations. The island’s government, the States of Jersey, said it would monitor the situation and could introduce safety measures, but does not believe people are currently at risk.

The infrastructure minister, Eddie Noel, said the quantity of sea lettuce on Jersey were not at the same level as in France and elsewhere in the world.

“The levels are monitored and if there were to be any buildup, action would be taken to protect public safety,” he said, adding that heavy deposits of rotting sea lettuce – Ulva lactuca – may produce gases, including hydrogen sulphide.

Noel said contractors removed the algae for the Jersey government last summer and trialled the use of gas monitors, which were not activated.

But he said: “A review of operations for the 2017 summer season will include considering greater use of these monitors and possible public safety signage in extreme conditions to warn of the risk, however small, of walking, jogging or exercising dogs in heavily affected areas.”

Noel said it was unreasonable to connect Auffray’s death with the sea lettuce at St Aubin’s Bay and doing so could harm tourism on the island.

Auffray’s death has focused attention on what causes Jersey’s sea lettuce growth, which Noel said was owing to “several elements”. It tends to proliferate in warm, clear, calm, nitrate-rich waters. St Aubin’s Bay is a perfect breeding ground because of its position– it is sheltered and sandy – and because it is rich in nitrates washed from farms in Jersey and northern France, and from the Bellozanne sewage treatment works.

Jersey’s government stressed that the sea lettuce problem was not unique to the island: there have been blooms in Kent, Ireland, Portugal and Italy, commonly in bays with similar features to St Aubin’s.

Possible solutions for the problem include towing it out to sea and dumping it, and the introduction of oysters that feed on nitrates.

The campaign group Save Our Shoreline Jersey (SOSJ) said there was no doubt that sea lettuce released sulphurous gases. “These ‘rotten egg’ smells mean local residents have to shut their windows in hot weather, tourists and locals complain, and seaside cafes suffer from a marked decrease in custom,” the group said.

“Bouncing on the piles of dried lettuce runs the risk of toxic gas escaping, so we recommend small children and dogs are kept from [doing so because] they are much closer to the ground and could be affected before the wind disperses the gas.”

SOSJ said hundreds of tonnes of fertiliser was being used by farms growing Jersey Royal potatoes, and that the island’s growing population was creating more sewage.

Jacqui Carrel, an environmental scientist for SOSJ, said the group had suggested measures such as ploughing shallow furrows at angles to the sea in these areas, dislodging the weed before it takes root. “[But] successive governments have said there is nothing they can do.”

Jersey monitors threat from toxic sea lettuce fumes

Diesel cars are 10 times more toxic than trucks and buses, data shows

Modern diesel cars produce 10 times more toxic air pollution than heavy trucks and buses, new European data has revealed.

The stark difference in emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) is due to the much stricter testing applied to large vehicles in the EU, according to the researchers behind a new report. They say the same strict measures must be applied to cars.

NOx pollution is responsible for tens of thousands of early deaths across Europe, with the UK suffering a particularly high toll. Much of the pollution is produced by diesel cars, which on the road emit about six times more than allowed in the official lab-based tests. Following the Volkswagen “dieselgate” scandal, the car tests are due to be toughened, but campaigners say the reforms do not go far enough.

The new report from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), a research group that played a key role in exposing Volkswagen’s cheating, compared the emissions from trucks and buses in realistic driving conditions with those of cars.

It found that heavy-duty vehicles tested in Germany and Finland emitted about 210mg NOx per kilometre driven, less than half the 500mg/km pumped out by modern diesel cars that meet the highest “Euro 6” standard. However, the buses and trucks have larger engines and burn more diesel per kilometre, meaning that cars produce 10 times more NOx per litre of fuel.

The ICCT analysis showed that manufacturers were able to ensure that heavy duty vehicles kept below pollution limits when on the road, but that emissions from cars soar once in the real world.

Official EU tests for cars are currently limited to laboratory measurements of prototype vehicles. “In contrast, for measurement of NOx emissions from trucks and buses, mobile testing devices became mandatory in 2013. As a consequence, randomly selected vehicles can be tested under real-world driving conditions,” said Peter Mock, managing director of ICCT in Europe.

Changes to the car testing regime in the EU are due to start in September, with mobile devices, called portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS), attached to vehicles as they drive on real roads.

But Mock warned: “Manufacturers will still be allowed to carefully select special prototype cars for emissions testing. Instead, it would be much better to measure the emissions of ordinary mass-production vehicles, obtained from customers who have had been driving them in an ordinary way.”

Such a system is used in the US where the dieselgate scandal first emerged. It will also be put forward for discussion by the European commission on 17 January in Brussels, but the ICCT said it faces resistance from some vehicle manufacturers and EU member states.

In December, the European commission started legal action against the UK and six other EU states for failing to act against car emissions cheating in the wake of the dieselgate scandal. But later the same month, a draft European parliament inquiry found the European commission itself guilty of maladministration for failing to act quickly enough on evidence that defeat devices were being used to game emissions tests.

Evidence that some diesel cars emitted up to four times more NOx pollution than a bus was revealed in 2015. Catherine Bearder, a Liberal Democrat MEP and a lead negotiator on the EU’s air quality law, said “It is disgraceful that car manufacturers have failed to reduce deadly emissions when the technology to do so is affordable and readily available. The dramatic reduction in NOx emissions from heavier vehicles is a result of far stricter EU tests, in place since 2011, that reflect real-world driving conditions. If buses and trucks can comply with these limits, there’s no reason cars can’t as well.”

Diesel cars are 10 times more toxic than trucks and buses, data shows

A toxic leak left Corpus Christi with no water for days. A taste of things to come? | Sarah McClung

Corpus Christi, Texas, calls itself the “sparkling city by the sea”. But lately it doesn’t feel very sparkling. The city imposed a four-day ban on consuming any tap water last Wednesday. No one could drink the water, shower, bathe, do dishes, wash laundry, hands, faces or children with it. There were fears that a corrosive asphalt emulsifier Indulin AA86 had snuck all the way from the city’s industrial district into our homes due to a “back-flow incident”. There was water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

On 1 December, the Corpus Christi city hall received the first report of dirty water from Refinery Row. On 7 December the city hall received their second, on 12 December their third. By then the water was shimmery, sudsy – just the kind of sheen we would soon fear creeping into our commodes.

On 14 December, city hall told us not to consume tap water. If it was contaminated with Indulin AA86, then drinking it could sear our stomachs, light up our lungs and burn any bodily organ it contacted through water or air.

Where were the men and women who would put public safety before all else? Where were the leaders who would make sure that the companies in charge installed and maintained a backflow preventer that would have kept Indulin AA86 where it belonged: out of our tap water.

But this is only Corpus Christi, a forgotten scab of a city. A tiny, immaterial industrial outpost marking naught but the dwindling Texas shoreline as it slopes and surrenders on its muddy fall to Mexico. This is the small potatoes of municipal incompetence; until it isn’t. Until we look to the future of the Trump administration and see the shimmering signs of far worse to come.

Streets need their protectors, cities need them too. And countries? Most notably, a country that’s among the biggest environmental offenders, a country whose ties to big business, big oil, big money are notorious for putting profit before the public good? That kind of country doesn’t need Scott Pruitt, it doesn’t need Rex Tillerson and it certainly doesn’t need Rick Perry.

Had Corpus Christi taken as much care with its public facilities as it does with the maintenance of private residencies, my two-year-old daughter might not have known what it was to be thirsty on the morning of 15 December, 2016. But with a Trump administration around the corner, I have to check myself: four days without water is nothing compared to the damage that four years without oversight, without vigilance, without care could do to our water and to our land.

Four days of thirst. Will it foreshadow the harm that Trump’s fossil fuel friends in the cabinet will bring? We all know the line-up: Scott Pruitt, a climate change denier and advocate for fossil fuel, at the helm of the EPA; Rick Perry, a climate change denier and apostle of Texas oil and gas directing the department he famously forgot he wanted to eliminate; and Rex Tillerson, a man whose successful devotion to commercial profit as the CEO of ExxonMobil is the absolute epitome of placing private over public good.

This is the very formula for successful municipal management that helped land me and my family thirsty and hunting for water last week. This is the very mindset that may have introduced Indulin AA86 into our water supply. This the very philosophy that sent me scouring supermarket shelves for four hours in three towns while my daughter cried in her carseat.

Our water is back now; the ban has been lifted. But every time I turn on the tap I hesitate, I hope for the best. That feeling will only grow stronger the closer we get to a Trump administration.

A toxic leak left Corpus Christi with no water for days. A taste of things to come? | Sarah McClung

Fireworks’ part in toxic air pollution | Letters

Delhi was this week blanketed with toxic fog after hundreds of thousands of people set off fireworks to mark Diwali (Report, 1 November). The pollution levels were up to 42 times the safe limit and even exceeded the normal harmful air in the city from traffic. In Britain, firework night and the following day are the peak days for hospital admissions for asthma and other breathing problems. Fireworks pollute the air with toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, aluminium, cadmium and radioactive barium, etc. Some of these are used to give fireworks their colours. Smoke from fireworks consists of fine toxic dusts that can enter the lungs. Work should be done to produce fireworks that are less harmful to health and the environment.
Ann Wills
Ruislip, Middlesex

• A couple of days before bonfire night and I’ve just picked a small but choice bowl of raspberries and eaten them outside in pleasant sunshine. November used to be all baked potatoes and roast chestnuts.
John Bailey
St Albans

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

Fireworks’ part in toxic air pollution | Letters

Toxic air is killing thousands of us – Theresa May must act fast | Emma Howard

The verdict is in and the government is guilty. In a landmark ruling, the high court has ruled that the plans to cut fatal air pollution are not only inadequate, but also illegal. To anyone who has seen these plans, the verdict is not surprising.

“If there was a toxin in our water system that we knew was killing thousands of people every year, the government would be coordinating Cobra meetings every day,” Matthew Pennycook, the Labour MP for Greenwich and chair of parliament’s cross-party group on air pollution, said after this morning’s ruling. But when it comes to the fatal toxins in our air, the government has not been coordinating any emergency meetings. It has been moving at a snail’s pace.

Air pollution is a known killer. The UK has been in breach of legal limits on nitrogen dioxide (NO2) for years. The government’s own reports show air pollution is causing 40-50,000 deaths every year, by exacerbating respiratory illnesses, heart disease and asthma. New evidence suggests it is not only finding its way into our lungs, but into our brains too, where it may bring about the premature onset of Alzheimer’s disease. In the words of MPs from all parties, we are facing a public health crisis.

Theresa May has pledged that she will fight the “burning injustices” that entrench social inequality and blight the life chances of children from working-class families. She says that many in Westminster “don’t know what it’s like to live like this and need to be told that what the government does isn’t a game”. But perhaps the prime minister is among them.

Children know that air pollution is not a game because they are substantially more vulnerable to toxins in the air, which permanently stunt the development of their lungs. So too are people from ethnic minority backgrounds, those living in areas of higher levels of deprivation, the elderly and those with chronic health conditions. In short, they are the most vulnerable people in our society.

Yet still, the apathy persists. It has now been more than a year since the Volkswagen scandal broke, when a major car manufacturer was revealed to have been covering up air pollution through criminal activity. In the US, VW has agreed to pay $ 15.3bn to compensate consumers and mitigate some of the damage it has done to the environment. In the UK the government has failed to take legal action or compensate consumers – all while lobbying at an EU level to water down regulations that would encourage the car industry to change. Indeed, the only reason the government has an air quality plan at all is because the supreme court ordered it to draw one up 18 months ago.

So what now? Speaking at prime minister’s questions today, May promised that the government did not “doubt the importance of the issue” and would look again at the proposals. She is right, it will – because it will have to. It now has one week to negotiate with the NGO ClientEarth, which emerged victorious from the high court this morning. It will be forced to scrap its current air quality plan, which called for clean air zones in just five cities, and backed the mayor’s plans in London, but did not mandate change in major cities such as Manchester and industrial hot spots such as Port Talbot.

Any new plan is likely to implement clean air zones in many more cities and could mean that diesel cars will face charges in many city centres. But the government should ensure local authorities have proper resources to implement the zones. It is also likely the government will have to redo the flawed modelling on which its current plans are based, which fail to properly take into account the vast discrepancy between tests in the laboratory and tests on the road.

But even this is likely to be inadequate. Road transport is the number one contributor to NO2 pollution and diesel is the main culprit. Yet we currently have a tax system that incentivises consumers to purchase diesel cars, which currently make up close to half of the nation’s fleet. Research published today suggests that for central London to become compliant, the proportion of diesel cars on the road would need to be as low as 5%. The sale of diesel cars must end and the government must reform a regulator that hauls in millions from the car industry itself.

But the car industry does not have to be the villain in this story. May has the opportunity to make it the hero and deliver a boost to the government’s shiny new industrial strategy to boot. Both Norway and the Netherlands understand this – they are striving for an emissions-free industry within the decade. China has announced a boost to its hybrid industry and even Germany, the nation that invented the car, is now mooting a federal proposal for a ban on petrol and diesel by 2030.

Electrics, hybrids and hydrogen are the future of the global car industry. If the UK doesn’t move fast by delivering the incentives and infrastructure required to clean it up, we will get left behind. If the prime minister realises this opportunity, perhaps then she might really start to play the game.

Toxic air is killing thousands of us – Theresa May must act fast | Emma Howard

The rhetoric around obesity is toxic. So I created a new language for fat people | Charlotte Cooper

There are lots of words used to describe people such as me. Medics and their allies will use some Latin or Greek to make their language appear authoritative and scientific. According to them I am obese, or someone requiring bariatric intervention. By extension, in newspapers I am part of an anonymous population blob known as “the obese”.

If I go shopping for clothes I might be called plus size. If I meet someone who finds someone with a body like mine shameful, I might be euphemistically described as big or large. Others might try to spin this shame into something more positive and pretty, like curvy. If someone tries to translate my work, they might use words such as gordo, dicke, grasso, grande. In some places there might not be words for me, either because no language exists, or because some people relate to me through a lexicon of disapproving looks and disgusted sounds.

I like to call myself, and be called, fat. This is simple and descriptive and it feels powerful to reclaim a word that is frequently used pejoratively. I am a fat activist, which is a term that can mean many things, but for me it means that I think fat is a political subject.

Fat is typically framed as a health problem but health is not apolitical, as bodies of work in the social sciences have come to reveal. Debates about the NHS, and fat people being held responsible for funding crises, are just one area in which fat is a political subject. The social hatred and scapegoating of fat people can also be seen as political.

In my most recent book, Fat Activism: A Radical Social Movement, I argue that fat activism can be anything done by anyone for any reason. It is not necessarily about self-acceptance, improving health, developing self-love or addressing stigma – though that can be part of it. It can be as much about joining organisations as tweeting; as going to a fat clothes-swap as writing and sharing a poem; as having a conversation with someone as presenting a paper at a conference. It can be weird, illegible, ambiguous and antisocial. There is no singular way of being a fat activist.

I think the experience of being fat is valuable. This is heresy to those who think fat people should not exist

In calling myself fat I am drawing on a feminist practice of naming things in order to bring them into being. This means naming myself, on my own terms, and using language to define the world around me as I experience it. I do this because I think the experience of being fat is valuable. This is heresy to those who think fat people should not exist. But the view from the margins illuminates a lot about the shadow side of conformity, norms, and fears concerning embodiment and difference, and how these are manipulated for power and profit.

Earlier this year I published a homemade dictionary of fat activist words and concepts. I wanted to subvert the language of medicine and public health to give readers a playful glimpse of a subculture. Here are some examples.

Alliteration

A literary device that is irresistible to people writing about fat, especially journalists: piling on the pounds, fat fighters, weight watchers, and so on. Maybe they do this because fat is intrinsically funny to write about, not like serious stories or hard news.

Belly

The part of your body that’s under your tits and above your privates. Can be any size, shape, texture, colour, levels of hairiness, sweatiness. A place where fat accumulates on some people. Sometimes flops around, sometimes is bold and stout. Sometimes makes gurgling noises. Sometimes has creases and stretch marks. Sometimes has a mind of its own and will not behave. A delightful, gorgeous thing, a source of physical power much maligned and fretted over. Important resource in gut-barging competitions.

Calorie

A way of talking about energy that you get through eating food. An obsession. A pretty name for a girl child.

Fathlete

A fat athlete.

Thin

A person who is not fat. A person who is better-looking, healthier, more intelligent, more likely to succeed in life, sexier, more lovable and better to be with than any fat person. A very good and virtuous and normal person.

Wings

Fat upper arms that get more wobbly and loose with age. Source of power.

I created A Fat Activist Vernacular because I am interested in language and power in relation to fat people. The weight-loss industry is worth a fortune, and there is a lot of money and status riding on the question of who gets to define fat experience – generally public health politicians and their friends and allies in the weight-loss industry and medicine. My preference would be that this is a subject for fat people to work out for ourselves by valuing and sharing our own experiences. But there are many others with vested interests in owning and wielding this information.

The language of fat activism, frequently raw and emotive when people talk about being objects of hate, is being appropriated and gentrified by academics and professionals, tidied up and made respectable, while ousting the originators. You can see this in the transformation of the activist term fatphobia into the blandly inoffensive “weight bias”, which is sure to make its way into policy sometime soon.

My own term, “headless fatty” – referring to media images of fat people whose heads have been cropped out of the frame – was also cleaned up by a prominent academic at Yale as “headless stomach”. What happens more often is that fat activist originators of language and concepts are not cited, and their ideas become appropriated and made respectable without anyone being the wiser.

Meanwhile, at the age of 46, I have found other ways of speaking about this subject. After embarking a few years ago on a lifelong ambition of becoming a contemporary dancer, in November I will be dancing a piece called But Is it Healthy? in the Wellcome Collection’s Obesity gallery. I get asked the question all the time and it is impossible to answer it in words, not least because fat people are a diverse group, health is constructed in myriad ways, and expert science is not incontrovertible. So I will dance the answer instead! This will be performed as a duet by Kay Hyatt and me to a soundtrack I have made based on archival recordings by fat feminist activists made in 1980 by Karen Stimson at the New Haven Fat Women’s Health Conference. The speakers are Diane Denne, Judy Freespirit, Aldebaran and Judith Stein; a recording of Marcia Duvall, also present on the panel, has unfortunately been lost. These women are founders of many of the ideas circulating in fat activism today, but they have been neglected historically. I would love more people to know about their work.

The dance emerged from a period of research in which Hyatt and I explored what it is like to be continually asked: “But is it healthy?”; it brings together years of activism, explaining, patient listening and deep frustration in response to this question.

Through dance I am developing a different kind of language, using my body expressively and encountering audiences who have been worn down by the rhetoric of the obesity epidemic for the past decade and a half, and want something different.

I hope that by watching us dance in the Obesity display at the Wellcome Collection, audiences will understand that there are other ways of talking and thinking about fat than those which have been dominant in recent years. It is unbelievable that fat people like me have to lobby so very hard to be seen simply as human. I hope the dancing, and its soundtrack, helps people recognise that fat people have community, histories, cultures, agency, thoughts and lives all of our own.

• Charlotte Cooper and Kay Hyatt are performing on 4 November 2016 as part of the Friday Late Spectacular: Body Language at the Wellcome Collection

The rhetoric around obesity is toxic. So I created a new language for fat people | Charlotte Cooper