Our 60-a-day city centre
Oxford is the most polluted city in the UK, according to a study conducted this August. The effects of air pollution on a pedestrian in the centre of Oxford are equal to smoking over 60 cigarettes a day.
The survey, carried out by Calor Gas, studied 30 urban locations throughout the country. It converted the amount of nitrogen oxide detected in the air into the equivalent number of cigarettes which would have to be smoked to receive the same amount.
The results are particularly marked for Oxford, considering a day spent in the second placed location, Bath, would be equal to smoking only 46.8 cigarettes in comparison to Oxford's 61.4. Glasgow came in a close third, a day in the city equivalent to smoking 44 cigarettes.
Areas of London, typically thought of as one Britain's most polluted cities, were present in fourth, fifth and seventh place with Marylebone Road beating King's Road and Hammersmith Broadway with 30, 29.6 and 27.3 cigarettes a day respectively.
The government's target for Nitrogen Oxide levels is equivalent to smoking 12 ciggarettes a day.
It is estimated that 53 per cent of the country's nitrogen oxide emissions originate from road transport. When chemically altered in the atmosphere nitrogen oxide can become nitric acid, one of the major components of acid rain. When in direct contact with sunlight nitrogen oxides can also form Ozone, which at ground level can be toxic to plants and animals.
Asthma and other respiratory disorders can be caused by the irritant pollutant, with poor air quality causing an estimated 24,000 premature deaths per annum.
6th Oct 2004