The ruling is historic. Nine-year-old Ella was killed by pollution. So a London court ruled on the case of Ella Kissi-Debrah, who died in 2013 from increasingly severe asthma attacks. According to the ruling, these attacks were caused by the long exposure to smog.
The girl lived in South East London, 25 meters from South Circular Road a Lewisham, one of the busiest streets in the British capital. It had therefore been exposed for a long time to very high levels of nitrogen dioxide and fine dust.
He had a particularly rare and severe form of asthma.
According to the coroner “Air pollution made a material contribution to Ella’s death”. At least 30 times in the last three years of her life she had been hospitalized with seizures. These are the causes of death: acute respiratory crisis, severe asthma and exposure to air pollution.
The doctor explained that the main source of his exposure was emissions from traffic. It is the first time in the world that smog is listed as the cause of a person’s death and this sentence is destined to make jurisprudence for the future. “In this period there has been a recognized failure to reduce the level of nitrogen dioxide within the limits set by European and national legislation, which has potentially contributed to his death,” explained the coroner.
The sentence comes after a long legal battle waged by the mother of the little girl. For her and for all the others who have suffered the same conditions. “One of the things Ella always asked to know was if there was anyone else with asthma as bad as hers.”
The problem is not just with those suffering from respiratory diseases and it is not just English. According to the report Air Quality in Europe of the European Environment Agency at least 412 thousand people die prematurely every year due to low air quality. For the World Health Organization this is one of the main risk factors for human health. In the world, 7 million people die prematurely every year from air pollution.
Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, the child’s mother, launched a campaign to promote what she called “Ella’s law.” The measure aims at reducing traffic and pollution based on the limits indicated by the WHO. In the UK, in urban areas, illegal levels of carbon dioxide have been out of bounds since 2010. She is not alone. Between 2008 and 2017, Italy continuously and systematically violated the limits indicated by the European Union on concentrations of PM10 in the air.
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