BRITAIN suffers from the most widespread levels of dangerous traffic fumes in Europe, posing a serious risk to health, according to a government report.

Hundreds of local authorities breach European Union limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which has been linked to asthma, stunted lung growth in children and premature death. The fumes on certain stretches of roads breach safety levels in 95% of cities and regions in the UK, compared with 82% in Austria, 52% in Germany and 21% in France.

The report from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) warns that Britain will breach EU air pollution laws and face swingeing fines unless it takes radical measures such as introducing subsidies for electric cars or a national road pricing scheme. It raises the spectre of Britain reverting to its past status as the “dirty man” of Europe as economic pressures lead to cuts in environmental standards.

Last month Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, dropped a pledge to force vans and mini-buses to abide by the standards of London’s low emission zone. Johnson suspended the scheme, which would have helped to reduce NO2 emissions to safe levels, within the EU target, on the grounds that the burden on small businesses would have been too great.

Simon Birkett, head of the Campaign for Clean Air in London, said: “The mayor and the government are in total denial about the sheer scale of this problem and the public health risk. These emissions are killing people. There is a fundamental lack of will and courage at the very top.”

Britain’s poor ranking is partly explained by its high population and congestion. Other European countries have, however, been more successful at reducing emissions.

Germany, for example, has introduced 36 low emission zones in which older petrol and diesel cars are banned. The Neth-erlands has introduced 18, and Italy six. The UK has just one.

Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King’s College London, said: “Instead of taking the hard decisions and doing more, we’re doing less.”

Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, said: “The health risks are stark; air pollution is killing people.”

The documents reveal that the UK will miss its EU deadline to cut nitrogen dioxide emissions to safe levels by 2010.

By next year, 2,188 miles of Britain’s main roads will exceed EU limits. London will have dangerous levels of emissions on 698 miles of roads, compared with 129 miles in Greater Manchester, 116 miles in the West Midlands and 48 miles in West Yorkshire.

Bath in Somerset, Lewes in East Sussex, Cambridge, Canterbury in Kent, Weymouth in Dorset and Salisbury in Wilt-shire also have dangerous levels of the fumes.

Ministers will apply for an extension to 2015, but officials are doubtful even the new deadline will be met and Britain faces large fines.

Official research shows that sooty particulate matter, a pol-, lutant closely linked with NO2 results in 12,000 to 24,000 premature deaths a year. In 2007 scientists at the University of Southern California found that children who live within 500 yards of a main road have stunted lung development.

Penny Green, a 37-year-old mother of two, and her husband, Jason, both suffer from asthma and although they live in Lewes, a market town, they avoid taking their children, aged five and nine, walking in the town centre.

Five roads in Lewes exceed EU limits for annual average nitrogen dioxide emissions and Green said she would not risk her children’s lungs. “It only takes one road to be shut down for the whole road to get grid-locked, ” she said.

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