Londoners shun face masks despite soaring pollution

Pollution mask: Warnings have not caused a spike in sales
Getty Images
Chloe Chaplain18 February 2017

Londoners are shunning protective face masks despite significant warnings over soaring pollution levels, it has been revealed.

Doctors this week warned that time is “running out” to tackle the toxic air and protect British children from pollution.

Their warning came after the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, tweeted to say that older people and people with heart and lung problems should avoid exercise due to high pollution.

Alerts were issued across the capital due after a polluted air mass from northwest Europe descended on London.

Pollution masks: Respro said they have not seen an increase in demand from London
Respro

But Harry Cole, the founder of pollution mask company Respro, said the warnings have not lead to an unprecdented spike in sales.

“It is actually contrary to what you might think,” he told the Standard.

“The pollution reports come out every year and they get a lot of press, so we see a surge in media attention and people do tend to buy a few more masks.

“But then it goes back to normal. If there are changes, they are temporary.”

Pollution protest: Doctors issued a warning about protecting children from the dangers of poor air quality

Mr Cole said his concerns are that people are not fully aware of the issue of poor air quality until it becomes visible.

“It is only when it gets really bad that people actually do something about it – and that when it turns into smog.

“Everything is simplified so it is only when people can see it that they worry about it. A lot of the time you can’t actually see the pollution, but it is still there.

“Until people understand that there is and air quality issue that is not ending then we will have the same problem.

Pollution: Mr Cole said a lot of pollution cannot be seen
Jeremy Selwyn

“We need to mobilise the public so we can influence the government to actually do something.”

He said the best way to solve the problem of poor air quality would be to ensure there were “no cars in cities” and “restrictions on vehicle movement”.

The campaign group Doctors Against Diesel yesterday published a letter calling on Theresa May to start phasing out diesel vehicles to cut harmful fumes on the streets of the capital and other cities and towns.

The medics, including more than 100 from London, said: “A national diesel reduction initiative, led by Government, will represent a major public health advance.

“However, time is running out, without urgent action emissions from diesel vehicles will cause irreversible lung damage to the current generation of children.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT