[ad_1]
An investigation is to consider evidence that illegal levels of air pollution caused the death of a nine-year-old girl, in a landmark legal case.
A coroner will be asked to rule that toxic levels of nitrogen dioxide, from the South Circular road in South London, triggered the acute asthma attack that killed elementary school student Ella Kissi-Debrah. Her mother, Rosamund, a former teacher, has fought for years for an investigation into the role of air pollution from traffic in Ella’s death.
A finding that air pollution was a factor in Ella’s death in February 2013 would make legal history. It has never before been identified as a cause of death in the UK, and this is believed to be the first case of its kind in the world.
The investigation, which begins Monday, was granted after lawyers for the family presented new evidence directly linking his severe form of asthma and his death to heavy traffic on London’s South Circular near his home in Lewisham, southeast. From london. His death coincided with one of the worst waves of air pollution in his local area.
The South London Inner District Medical Examiner will examine potential failures by government authorities to take appropriate action to reduce air pollution and provide public information on the risks of toxic air, as well as the extent to which any state failure contributed to hers. death. The ministers have repeatedly failed to bring traffic air pollution within legal limits, and have therefore been censored by the judges on several occasions.
Speaking before the hearing, Rosamund Kissi-Debrah said: “It has been eight years since Ella passed away and it has been a long and hard struggle to achieve this investigation, with challenges along the way. What I want is justice for her and for her to have the true cause of her death on her death certificate. “
The first investigation in 2014 did not mention air pollution. The coroner ruled that Ella had died of acute respiratory failure caused by severe asthma. This verdict was overturned in 2019 and a new investigation was ordered after lawyers for the family presented evidence to the attorney general in 2018 from Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, one of the UK’s leading air pollution experts.
Holgate mapped Ella’s hospital admissions with spikes in air pollution levels around her home. The serious episode that culminated in his death on February 15, 2013 coincided with one of the worst waves of air pollution in his area.
Nitrogen dioxide and particulate pollution levels primarily from diesel traffic violated legal limits above 40 µg / m3 around the South Circular for much of the time while Ella was ill, he found.
Their report concluded: “The dramatic worsening of your asthma in relation to air pollution episodes would largely explain the timing of your exacerbations in the past four years. There is a real possibility that without illegal levels of air pollution, She would not have died. “
Jocelyn Cockburn, a partner in the attorneys at Hodge Jones & Allen, who represent Ella’s mother, said it had been a privilege to work with her for the past four years in her search for answers about her daughter’s death.
“It has been a significant achievement to get to this point, where there will be a new investigation to examine whether air pollution caused Ella’s death,” Cockburn said. “Rosamund’s account of Ella’s struggle is very powerful and illustrates the human suffering behind the statistics.
“The investigation will examine the actions or inaction of UK government authorities, both during Ella’s lifetime and today, in addressing air pollution, and the coroner will consider whether Ella’s death could have been prevented and if necessary learn lessons to avoid future deaths. . “
Kissi-Debrah, who will be one of the first witnesses to testify Monday, said that if her daughter had lived, she would be 16 years old. “It’s a completely different world without her and I wonder, if she was here, what would she do? Until now, what would be his interests, what would he do with the world “.
Katie Nield, an attorney for the environmental law charity ClientEarth, which successfully took the government to court over illegal levels of air pollution, said: “The government has been breaking its existing legal obligations to make our air more safe to breathe for over 10 years, faltering and lingering despite court orders, and this apathy is fatal. “
