§ Mr. Win GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures she intends to take in response to evidence referred to by the chairman of her committee on the medical aspects of air pollution that high ozone levels attack babies' bronchial tubes making them more likely to develop allergies.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe advisory group on the medical aspects of air pollution episodes considered the evidence on the medical effects of exposure to ground level ozone in its first report which was published by HMSO in August 1991. Copies of the report are available in the Library.
Some reports of the speech of the advisory group's chairman to a recent meeting of the National Society for Clean Air have simplified and exaggerated what he said. The group recognised the importance of any possible interaction between allergen sensitisation and/or ozone provoked inflammation. It found that some studies showed that, in animals, very high concentrations of ozone may produce attenuation of and/or an increase in, the response to allergens, but it concluded that more work would be needed before a clear understanding of the likely effects of ambient ozone levels on allergic response in people is obtained. It has been suggested that, in children, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in the first year of life enhances the risk of the development of airway allergies and thus, possibly, asthma. But the evidence on whether ozone is also a contributing factor is inconclusive.
The advisory group made a number of recommendations for research, including basic research on the biochemical and cellular mechanisms involved in the effects of ozone on the lung; research on the effects of low concentrations of ozone upon people; and epidemiological studies on the possible relationship between exposure to air pollutants in general, and ozone in particular, on health. The Department has raised this with the Medical Research Council which is the main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research in the United Kingdom.