Blueair calls for more ‘clean air zones’ targeting high-polluting vehicles in cities around the world

Stockholm, May 4, 2016 – More cities and towns around the world should establish ‘clean air zones’ to target high-polluting vehicles to help ensure they do not enter city centers, says Blueair, a global leader in mobile indoor air purifying technologies. The call by Blueair comes in response to the growing scientific evidence that car, truck and bus emissions are the biggest contributor to early deaths in cities.

“The sobering significance of road transportation to premature death is scary with people just about everywhere on our planet facing diseases exacerbated by air pollution,” said Mr. Bengt Rittri, Blueair founder and CEO.

Mr. Rittri noted how the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has calculated that every year 53,000 Americans die earlier due to vehicle pollution while even in countries like Sweden – long recognised as one of the cleanest countries in the world – automotive emissions are said to be behind the death of around 5,000 Swedes annually.

A landmark study published in late February 2016 by two leading UK medical institutions, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, shows how city-dwellers are poisoned by the insidious effects of chronic and persistent air pollution exposure.Looking at the lifelong impact of air pollution, the report said cradle-to-grave exposure to air pollution can contribute to cancer, asthma, stroke and heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and dementia.

Mr. Rittri said the scandal of falsified emission claims by some car makers had underlined the need to tackle inner-city air pollution by getting tougher on polluting vehicles.He noted how European cities such as Zurich, Copenhagen, Vienna and Stockholm were leaders in setting policies to promote cleaner urban air by combatting auto emissions.

The Blueair chief executive applauded a new initiative in the UK – where 40-50,000 people die prematurely from diseases linked to air pollution – to launch ‘clean air zones’ in five more cities outside London to limit nitrogen pollution. He also called on countries like China and India to consider congestion charging in major cities and improving public transportation rather than rely on odd-even number plate schemes, which can be circumnavigated by simply buying a second car.

“Indoor air purifiers like those from Blueair help people create safer indoor havens free from airborne pollutants, but we all need to think bigger to become both dreamers and doers to combat the global public health emergency caused by urban traffic pollution,” said Mr. Rittri.

BACKGROUND

A study published in the journal Nature in mid-2015 said over three million people are killed every year by outdoor air pollution, more than malaria and HIV/Aids combined, with a fifth of all deaths being caused by traffic pollution alone. Led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany, it is one of the first studies to single out different outdoor air pollution sources.