Heart Diseases: Exhaust Emissions

Mr. Hoyle
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will commission research into the relationship between levels of air pollution from motor vehicles and rates of heart attack amongst women; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint
The commissioning of research into this area will need to be considered along with other research priorities.

A paper produced by Miller et al, 2007, on the ‘Long-term exposure to air pollution and incidence of cardiovascular events in women’, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine 2007; 356: 447-458 on 1 February 2007.

The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants considered this important publication at its meeting on 23 February 2007 and are exploring the findings in more detail, including the need for further research.