BOLTON is heading a shameful national league table for air pollution following a health check into levels of 'summertime smog' throughout the country.

The town was among 15 sites to have broken Government national health standards for levels of ozone found in the atmosphere on all five days that the pollution was monitored.

National health standards were broken for at least one out of five days at 44 of the Government's monitoring sites. Of those, Bolton was one of only a handful in which the health standard was exceeded every day.

The figures, released by Friends of the Earth, are for the five days from last Friday. The Government's national air quality standard for ozone requires that levels do not exceed 50 parts per billion (ppb) as an average over any eight hour period. High levels can cause coughing, choking and impaired lung function, as well as headaches, eye, nose and throat irritation and chest discomfort on deep breathing.

Summertime smog is created when nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react, triggered by sunlight, and a major source of both gasses in the UK is road traffic.

Commenting on the figures, Tom Bosworth, Friends of the Earth's Air Pollution Campaigner, said: "The hot, sunny weather and the resulting pollution have turned the heat on John Prescott. We need urgent action in next month's Transport White Paper to cut traffic levels and make sure Britain's air is breathable.

"That means more money for buses, trains and bikes and cuts in road building, which only causes more traffic."

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