M25 pollution fears
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• Traffic congestion is causing dangerous levels of pollution outside and inside vehicles, according to research compiled by environmental groups.
Friends of the Earth drew attention last week to the results of Government monitoring exercises that suggested levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx) at four points around the M25 were over EC legal limits.
Kirsten Denker, a transport campaigner at Greenpeace, added that studies in the US and Britain had shown that internal pollution in vehicles could be more harmful. "Levels of things like benzine, which causes cancer, can be 18 times as high."
A heavy concentration of commercial vehicles in traffic makes the situation worse. Denker said. "Pollution levels inside cars are affected by the ratio of trucks to cars." The tests by the Warren Spring Laboratory indicated that NOx emissions at Addle stone Dartford and Slough on the M25 exceeded the 30 parts per billion limit specified in the EC directive. The level at Enfield probably exceeded the EC guideline level.