More than 3000 Australians die from exposure to air pollution each year. Thousands of others suffer health effects like strokes, heart disease and asthma.
Australia’s current air pollution standards are not strong enough to protect human health. Right now we have a rare opportunity to strengthen these weak air pollution standards and protect the health of communities.
This year, Australia’s state and territory environment ministers are reviewing the national standards for air pollution from sulfur dioxide (SO2), oxides from nitrogen NOx, and Ozone (O3). The current air pollution standards were set 21 years ago! Influence the outcome by making a submission. Our friends at Environmental Justice Australia have developed a template here.
Australian health experts are calling on the government to implement standards on So2, NOX and O3 to protect communities. The World Health Organisation recommends a standard for SO2 that is ten times stricter than the current Australian standard.
Together we can call on Australia’s environment ministers to secure strict new national standards. The review on the current standards provides us with an opportunity to fix this by pressuring members by pressuring ministers to enforce strict national pollution standards and force coal-fired power stations to clean up their act.
