Susan Thomas, Oxford

Wednesday, 13 May 2015

I am proud that Oxford City Council is one of three local authorities in the entire country to introduce low pollution buses and a low emission zone.

These clean buses have removed all of the deadly particulate matter known as PM2.5.

These sooty ultrafine particles have been shown to cause heart disease by medical studies published in the Lancet.

These particles are not to be confused with pure carbon dioxide which is harmless to health.

Oxford City is leading the way forward and is setting a fine example.
These dirty PM2.5 emissions are the ones we should be targeting.

A strategic error was made when pure carbon dioxide was designated as a pollutant in the 2008 Climate Change Act.
This played into the hands of unscrupulous carbon markets and left us in danger of power cuts..

It is the dirty hydrocarbons from traffic fumes that are deadly to our health.

Therefore the emissions targets should have been aimed at transport rather than at cleaner running power stations.
We need enough cheap electricity to power clean electric cars.

This will improve our health substantially.
Traffic emissions lead to lung cancer and arterial disease.

So try and use the local car clubs and think of buying electric cars as one day petrol will run dry.