Guidance needed for the inclusion of air pollution on death certificates airqualitynews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from airqualitynews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
We need national guidance for clinicians on the inclusion of air pollution on death certificates, argue Laura-Jane Smith, Mike Tomson, and Kath Brown
Air pollution is often framed as a modern problem, but as early as Roman times it was understood that polluted air affects human health. In AD 61, Seneca wrote of Rome “No sooner had I left behind the oppressive atmosphere of the city and that reek of smoking cookers … than I noticed the change in my condition.”1 In AD 535, emperor Justinian declared clean air a right of all humans: “By the law of nature these things are common to mankind the air, running water, the sea.”2 But it took until July 2022 for the United Nations to declare access to a clean and healthy environment a universal human right.3 In the UK, the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill, also known as Ella’s Law, is a private members’ bill which would enshrine in law a right to clean air. At the time of writing, the bill is awaiting its second reading in the House o