Not quite Sydenham but close enough to have a very direct and extremely important bearing.
This link at the BBC reports that the Attorney General has decided to announce a fresh inquest after hearing new evidence linking Ella Kissi-Debrah's death to illegal levels of air pollution near her home in south London.
....local air pollution levels regularly breached EU legal limits. Her last fatal seizure happened during a spike in air pollution levels.
An inquest in 2014 found she had died of acute respiratory failure and severe asthma.
However, the attorney general's decision has now paved the way for a new inquest to determine whether "unlawfully high levels of air pollution" were partially the cause of her death.
Mrs Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said: "It's great, it's the right decision and now we can get to the bottom, really, of the health impact of air pollution on young people.
I'm not surprised being one who can't cope with diesel fumes easily at all. People can help by not sitting stationary with engines running plus TFL either could or should do better to "keep London moving" which it claims to but clearly doesn't in the Bell Green to Forest Hill route (and elsewhere of course). It's known that some air pollutant particles collect in lungs incrementally, so the sooner the problem is addressed in a meaningful way the better and long before 2025 or 2040. Face masks might help but empty fine words don't.
Well we can thank the mayor from 2008 - 2016 who did nothing about air pollution. That mans inaction kills about 4000 people a year but it’s just a jolly jape to him
The BBC today reports on the findings of a new inquest, re-instated by The High Court, and granted after Ella's mother said more evidence had come to light.
A nine-year-old girl who died following an asthma attack has become the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death.
Ella Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, died in 2013.
Southwark Coroner's Court found that air pollution "made a material contribution" to Ella's death.
Prof Gavin Shaddick, a government adviser on air pollution, called it "a landmark decision".
Coroner Philip Barlow said Ella had been exposed to "excessive" levels of pollution.
The inquest heard that in the three years before her death, she had multiple seizures and was admitted to hospital 27 times.
Delivering a narrative verdict, Mr Barlow said levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) near Ella's home exceeded World Health Organizations guidelines.
He added: "There was a recognised failure to reduce the levels of nitrogen dioxide, which possibly contributed to her death.
"There was also a lack of information given to Ella's mother that possibly contributed to her death."
Ella died in the early hours of 15 February 2013, following a severe asthma attack.
Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah said she did not know how dangerous local levels of pollution were before her daughter's death
A 2018 report found unlawful levels of pollution, which were detected at a monitoring station one mile from Ella's home, contributed to her fatal asthma attack.
The report's author Prof Sir Stephen Holgate said Ella had been "living on a knife edge" in the months before her death.
The inquest heard Ella's family did not know of the risks posed by air pollution.
Sadiq Khan, who as mayor of London was named as an interested party in the inquest, called the result "a landmark moment".
Mr Khan said: "Today must be a turning point so that other families do not have to suffer the same heartbreak as Ella's family.
"Ministers and the previous mayor have acted too slowly in the past, but they must now learn the lessons from the coroner's ruling."
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, called on the government to outline a public health plan to protect against "toxic air" immediately.
