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Britain’s plans to cut levels of two traffic-related air pollutants are being
watered down. By 2005, concentrations of particles with a diameter of less than
10 micrometres were to be allowed to exceed 50 micrograms per cubic metre,
averaged over 24 hours, only four times a year. This has been changed to 35
times a year. The 2005 target for hourly average nitrogen dioxide levels is also
being relaxed, from 150 to 200 parts per billion. “The government lacks the will
to curb traffic growth,” says Tony Bosworth of Friends of the Earth.