§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the link between exposure to traffic fumes and susceptibility to allergens.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe Department's advisory group on the medical aspects of air pollution episodes has concluded that there is evidence that certain but not all constituents of traffic fumes, or chemicals formed from them, such as ozone, may worsen the symptoms of some allergic conditions. The group was assisted in its considerations by a leading immuno-toxicologist, and is reviewing the evidence in its current assessment of the interaction of all traffic pollutants.
Further advice has been sought from the Department's Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants. It has asked for information from two leading research workers currently undertaking studies into the relationship between levels of air pollutants in London and symptoms among hay fever sufferers.
The British Society for Clinical Allergy and Immunology has set up a working party to look at the possible relationship between pollutants and allergic disease. The Department is represented on that group.