Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah died from dangerous levels of air pollution in 2013 (Family handout)
(Picture: PA Media)Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah’s mother has called for a ban on wood-burning stoves in London after her child became first person in Britain whose death was linked to air pollution.
Ella, died on February 15, 2013, aged nine, following an asthma attack. She became the first person in Britain to have air pollution listed by a coroner as a cause of death.
Ahead of the 10 year anniversary of her daughter’s death, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Deborah has called for a ban on wood-burning stoves due to London’s air pollution crisis.
“The issue with London is wood-burning. They need to legislate against wood-burning in London: we have an urban air pollution problem,” she told The Times.
“London has central heating. I think the ban on wood-burning is such an easy one in London, isn’t it? Look, the wood-burning needs to stop.”
Both Environment Secretary, Therese Coffey and Sir Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, have both stated their opposition against a ban on wood-burning stoves.
But Sadiq Khan has piled pressure on the Government this week to back Ella’s Law to make breathing clean air a human right.
More than 30 MPs are backing a Commons campaign, being led by Green MP Caroline Lucas, to make the Government give time and support for the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill.
It would also force ministers to speed up by a decade, from 2040 to 2030, the goal to tackle tiny PM2.5 particulate pollution.
Under the proposed new law, the Government would have to reduce tiny PM2.5 particulate pollution to 10 µg/m3 (microgrammes per cubic metre) by 2030, a goal which is being adopted by the EU.
Scientists have warned that PM2.5 toxic air is particularly harmful to human health as it can work its way deep into the lungs and heart.
Health chiefs estimate that the death toll from human-made air pollution in the UK equates to between 29,000 and 43,000 fatalities every year.
Acknowledging that wood-burning stoves are just part of the air pollution problem, Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah added: “There is a public health emergency. This isn’t just going to be an overnight thing, and it is going to cost money, but my position is there should be no compromises on your health.”
