Air pollution: High levels Begin to ease

Photograph: Matthew Fearn/PA

Air pollution levels have begun to ease in most of the UK with forecasters predicting they could fall even further.

BBC Weather's Peter Gibbs said the pollution had peaked and "should go down quite rapidly" in the coming days.Data showed pollution levels had dropped from the maximum 10 on Thursday to mainly moderate levels.

But, David Cameron has been heavily criticised for "misunderstanding" the problem and suggesting it was a temporary issue caused by Saharan dust.The European Commission's environment spokesman, Joe Hennon, said the British prime minister's remarks were "more than disappointing".

Health effects

Those with existing lung and heart conditions could find that their symptoms worsen.
They should avoid doing too much, especially outdoors
Healthy people may experience minor symptoms such as a sore throat or a tickly cough
They should avoid strenuous activities in order to reduce such symptoms
What will pollution do to us?

He told the Guardian newspaper: "To say this is a temporary issue caused by Saharan dust shows a major misunderstanding of the air pollution issue.

"It's clearly an issue you would expect any government to deal with if it's serious about protecting the health of the general public."It shows that the problem is not yet understood and one of the reasons we're taking legal action against the UK is that they've not met the targets they agreed to. If I was living in the UK then I would not be happy about that."

Mr Cameron told the BBC on Thursday that he did not go for his morning run because of the Saharan dust, which he described as a "naturally occurring weather phenomenon".