Story at a glance
- Ella Kissi-Debrah died in the hospital in February 2013 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
- A coroner on Wednesday said air pollution had significantly helped induce and exacerbate Ella’s asthma.
- The coroner’s ruling is thought to be the first in the world to identify air pollution as a cause of a person’s death.
A 9-year-old girl who died following an asthma attack in 2013 in the United Kingdom is believed to be the first person to officially have air pollution listed as a cause of death.
Ella Kissi-Debrah died in the hospital in February 2013 after suffering a cardiac arrest. She had been taken to the hospital dozens of times in less than three years and experienced numerous seizures.
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Debrah lived in southeast London near one of the city’s busiest roads, the South Circular.
While Ella’s cause of death was determined to be a severe asthma attack leading to respiratory failure, a report compiled by Stephen Holgate, the former chair of the U.K.’s advisory committee on air pollution, found the young girl’s asthma attacks coincided with years of illegal pollution levels from the street near her home.
Following the report, a new inquest was requested and a coroner on Wednesday said air pollution had significantly helped induce and exacerbate Ella’s asthma.
“Ella died of asthma, contributed to by exposure to excessive air pollution,” assistant coroner Philip Barlow said.
“The whole of Ella’s life was lived in close proximity to highly polluting roads. I have no difficulty concluding that her personal exposure to nitrogen dioxide and PM was very high,” he said.
Barlow noted that Ella was exposed to levels of nitrogen and particulate matter in excess of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines between 2010 and 2013. He said there was a failure during this time to reduce the level of nitrogen dioxide to the levels set by the European Union and domestic law.
“Toxic air pollution is a public health crisis,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a tweet responding to the coroner’s conclusion. “Ministers and the previous Mayor have acted too slowly in the past, but they must now learn the lessons from the Coroner’s ruling and do much more to tackle the deadly scourge of air pollution in London and across the country.”
According to WHO, the effects of air pollution kill an estimated 7 million people globally each year. The health agency said 4.2 million deaths occur annually due to outdoor air pollution.
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