The British government aims to eradicate threats to human health from air pollution by the year 2005 by a new system of local air quality management, new vehicle and fuel standards, and a crackdown on vehicle and industrial emissions.

In its consultation document The United Kingdom National Air Quality Strategy, which is largely a restatement of existing policies and legislation, the government has set standards for the main air pollutants—nitrogen dioxide, particles, ozone, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, lead, benzene, and 1,3—butadiene.

For some of the pollutants, such as carbon monoxide and lead, current government policies will achieve the reduction in levels with the …