A nine-year-old girl died of smog. She was the first victim of air pollution in the world

On December 16, 2020, a London coroner found air pollution “contributed significantly” to the death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah. The girl died in February 2013. This is the first time in the UK, and most likely in the world, for exposure to above-average air pollution to be considered a cause of death. Today, together with Airly, we publish an annual report on the state of air in Poland.

1. 9-year-old Ella Roberta Kissi-Debrah died in February 2013 after another asthma attack
2. The girl lived right next to one of the beltways, where air pollution standards are regularly exceeded
3. The girl’s mother struggled for seven years to prove the link between smog and recurrent asthma attacks
4. Until recently, it was believed that about 45 people in Poland die from smog. people, but the latest research shows that this number must be multiplied by two
5. The number of deaths worldwide due to air pollution can be as high as 9 million per year
6. Today, together with Airly, we publish an annual report on the state of air in Poland. You can download it from the website breathajpolsko.TvoiLokony
7. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

Ella Kissi-Debrah suffered from extremely severe asthma

Ella Kissi-Debrah was spending the 2010 Valentine’s Night with her mother when she began to have breathing problems. Mother called for help. The girl in the ambulance suffered another asthma attack and died in the hospital on the morning of February 15.

Ella had been suffering from asthma for three years. Shortly before her seventh birthday, she began developing a rare and life-threatening form of the disease, but still undiagnosed at the time.

1. Breathe Poland. Download the Airly and TvoiLokony Air Condition Report

– In October 2010, we noticed disturbing symptoms for the first time. We took her to a general practitioner. We thought it was a common respiratory infection. She had a strange cough. We were not worried because children often get sick. We thought he would come out of it, said Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, the mother of the child, in June 2021.

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“A few months later, she stopped breathing and went into intensive care. In December 2010, she fell into a coma. None of us really knew what was wrong, ‘added the mother. – Initially, even specialists had problems diagnosing asthma. And her case turned out to be extremely rare and serious.

Before being diagnosed with asthma, Ella was tested for cystic fibrosis and epilepsy.

1. Every year, it silently kills 45 Poles

In total, until the tragic attack in February 2013, Ella had been due to asthma attacks in five different hospitals almost 30 times. Years later, my mother said that the doctors never raised the topic of air pollution during these visits. Because if they made her aware of the dangers of smog, they would move to another district. Rosamund moved to Lewisham 20 years ago when “there was less traffic and the air was less polluted.”

Polluted air kills

It wasn’t until Ella’s death that my mother thought about air pollution as a possible cause of her deteriorating health. The first investigation took place in 2014. It was then concluded that the girl’s condition might be “something in the air”, but no clear smog was identified at the time.

Rosamund, however, continued her efforts to blame poor air quality as the cause of her daughter’s death.

1. Asthma affects the smallest airways

– At that time, I knew nothing about nitric oxide, solid particles. I never thought that I would have to learn all about air pollution in the coming years. I didn’t start to get to know all this data until two years after her death, she said.

– She wasn’t allergic to any food, she didn’t have any virus. But someone in the neighborhood who was monitoring pollution measurements in the area told me that on the night Ella had her last asthma attack, Lewisham had one of the highest air pollution rates in history Mother said.

In December 2019, lawyers supporting the Kissi-Debrah family managed to convince the court to issue a decision to reopen the investigation into the girl’s death.

Cause of death: three factors

The investigation conducted in November 2020 lasted two weeks. They were led by the coroner Philip Barlow. After analyzing the documents, he stated in the report that “air pollution was a significant contributor to both the induction and exacerbation of her asthma.”

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Barlow argued that Ella was exposed to excessive levels of air pollution – nitrogen dioxide levels near Ella’s home far exceeded the standards set by the World Health Organization and the European Union.

The coroner said that nothing had been done to reduce the level of nitrogen dioxide shown in the girl’s place of residence, which probably contributed to her death. Ella’s death was also influenced by the failure to provide the girl’s family with information about the harmfulness of the air and its impact on health.

“In my opinion, Ella died of asthma, which was due to exposure to excessive air pollution,” Barlow concluded his reasoning.

In a new death certificate, following a court verdict from December 2020, three factors were cited as the cause of death: acute respiratory failure, severe asthma, and exposure to polluted air.

– This is a landmark, a seven-year struggle has led to the finding of air pollution as the cause of death on Ella’s death certificate. Hopefully this will mean the possibility of saving many children’s lives. Thank you for all your continued support, Rosamund Kissi-Debrah said after the verdict.

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Prof. Gavin Shaddick, UK Government Air Pollution Advisor. He considered the judgment “groundbreaking” and expressed hope that in the future it will “facilitate the process of improving air quality”.

Clean air – a basic human right

David R. Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment also commented on the matter.

– The decision only confirms what has already been enshrined in international law. Governments are committed to protecting our rights to life, health and a healthy environment, especially for the youngest and most vulnerable people like Ella, he said.

– However, still 9 out of 10 children worldwide breathe toxic air indoors and outdoors, and 600 it dies every year because their governments have failed to ensure access to a basic human right: clean air, he added.

Boyd expressed his hope that the decision that air pollution had an impact on Ella’s death would force governments to fight this silent pandemic and help save other children as well as future generations.

The editorial board recommends:

1. Dr. Anna Prokop-Staszecka: Mendeleev’s table would be missing to describe the mixture of Krakow air
2. How does smog kill? The problem is more serious than we think
3. «Smog has many offenses under his belt». Do you know how it affects the brain?

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