Toxic U.K.
I was born and bred in London and have always loved my native city, but from the minute I arrived on my current visit from of Los Angeles, my current residence, I have noticed a very dark cloud on both my mind and body: an invisible, intangible, sickening angst which makes my head ache, my lungs feel heavy. My senses recognize it as the stench of diesel fumes which choke the roads of London and every city in the UK, as well as the motorways, and even the canals and beach marinas, as boats also use the poisonous fuel.
The obvious culprits in London are the iconic red double-decker buses and black taxis, which have used diesel for decades, but to my horror, I found on a recent trip to Devon, even the coastal road just yards from the promise of fresh sea air was interrupted by diesel-spurting lorries and private vehicles which the current UK government encouraged people to buy based on the cheaper price of the fuel, with little or no consideration of the health effects.
London mayor Boris Johnson (the one with the blond mop of hair) has admittedly done some superficial work in tackling the problem, like encouraging people to ride bicycles in London - while breathing in other people's cars' exhaust - and converting some London buses to hybrids, so that they run partly on diesel and partly on electric buses. But the batteries in these buses are not large enough to hold charge for long periods, and have to resort to belching out diesel again.
Diesel fuel is less refined than petroleum based gasoline and contains many carcinogens, including benzene, cadmium, nickel, naphthalene, toluene, and xylene. The pungent smell of diesel that most of us recognize is due to the sulphur compounds and it's interesting that hell is said to be composed of "Fire and Brimstone", the latter being an alternative name for sulphur. Along with Nitrogen Dioxide, which does not smell, but contributes to asthma and heart attacks, these carcinogens and endocrine system disruptors lodge in the lungs, contributing to lung, and other types of cancer. A full list of diesel ingredients and their health effects can be seen at Wikipedia's page on Diesel Exhaust
Researchers at Imperial College London have conducted empirical testing of people in high diesel areas of London, with a control group in Hyde Park, and found significant changes in heart and lung function:
According to The Independent newspaper, "...Diesel's spike in popularity can be laid at the door of the DVLA, which has, for the last dozen years, effectively offered tax breaks to diesel buyers in the form of Vehicle Excise Duty." "In the first half of 2014, Britons bought 643,000 diesel cars ", which is probably why people who have been out of the UK for a few years, like myself are really noticing the change in air quality since our last visit. I now cringe at every breath I have to take when I hear the familiar chug-chug of a diesel-fueled car approaching - rather like the sound of the familiar black taxi cabs. It is disgusting, in my opinion, that British citizens have been duped into buying these vehicles based on economics, rather than on health research. The DVLA was informed by so-called scientists who only looked at miles-per-gallon, which of course translated into money, but superficially gave some the impression that more MPG meant less CO2 emissions. This superficial advice COMPLETELY IGNORED the cancer causing and other deleterious effects of diesel.
Actions suggested by London mayor Boris Johsnon have helped somewhat, like introducing hybrid Routemaster buses in London, while others, like cycling around London would only seem to push the problem onto people who have not caused it, while at the same time endangering their health. In my opinion, the problem must be tackled at the same level at which it was caused, which is with the politicians who have the power to regulate Britain's fuel and car production and imports. The only option which would benefit people's health is to BAN DIESEL, however long that takes. Like most modern democracies, money greases the wheels of this country's survival, and a big portion of our economy comes from the tourist industry. My suggestion therefore is that people from both Britain and other countries boycott the UK as a holiday destination until its air quality improves. Visit California instead, where Governor Gerry Brown has enacted strict air quality laws and aims to ban the internal combustion engine by 2030, much to the chagrin of auto-makers and consumers who do not understand the connection between fuel exhaust and health.
The continued focus on cheap fuel for consumers and profits for manufacturers, with no regard for health has led to price wars in the U.K., while oil exporters like Saudi Arabia are flooding the market with diesel with no consideration for what it is doing to people's health.
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