From Mr E. A. Mallia,

Albert Bezzina’s article “Who’s burning our lungs?” (TMIS, 30 September) does provide some correction to the statements made by FAA on car emissions. However, there is no doubt which “side” Dr Bezzina is on. He indulges in some nit picking irrelevant to the case FAA was making and casts around to see where he can shift blame.

The forecast of “many dead and injured cyclists” is hardly justified. There are after all quite a number of cyclists on our roads, with relatively rare cases of death and injury. And this with a negative factor not mentioned by Bezzina – the determination of too many cyclists to “forget” that a ridden bicycle is traffic and must observe all traffic regulations, not only the one of not using a pavement as road. Bezzina still has a point though: exercising on a bicycle on a road full of vehicle emissions is hardly healthy.

The FAA reference to SUVs may or may not have included Multi-Purpose Vehicles and pick-up trucks; but the point was one of fuel efficiency and emissions not of safety. Diesel cars emit less CO2/km than petrol cars through better fuel efficiency; but practically all diesel cars currently on the market, whatever their age, emit fine particles (PM10), which constitute the most dangerous component of car emissions. In fact it is the main cause of the periodic traffic bans in city centres on the continent. Euro V diesels are still pie in the sky. Incidentally, EU countries regularly publish estimate of excess deaths arising from vehicle

emissions.

One other dangerous pollutant is low level ozone. The ingredients for its formation are unburnt fuel and bright sunlight. In our conditions of slow moving traffic, where catalysers may not be working efficiently, and bright sunlight is present for many months of the year, ozone levels often exceed safety limits. The hard fact is that we have too many road vehicles and too much vehicle use. Unless we are all prepared to give something up, the situation can only get worse.

E. A. Mallia

ATTARD