Air pollution is creating a generation of children with damaged lungs according to a study that found urban primary school pupils have lower breathing capacity than expected.
Attempts to curb toxic air have not been enough to protect children and diesel will have to be banished to prevent decades of poor health, scientists concluded. More detailed measurements of city children’s lung capacity than ever found that it was five per cent lower than normal on average by the age of nine, with a clear link between breathing volume and pollution levels.
Concern about air pollution has been mounting as evidence builds that it damages the body from before birth to old age, contributing to heart attacks, cancer, dementia and other diseases.
Diesel vehicles are a