By Sam Blanchard Senior Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 17:34 BST, 13 May 2019 | Updated: 17:35 BST, 13 May 2019
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The Government's Department of Health and Social Care will produce an in-depth review of how bad air pollution is for people's health, it has announced.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has commissioned the investigation which will reveal the true dangers of dirty air and how they will affect people in the future.
His announcement comes just two months after Public Health England – also a government department – released its own report on how to improve air quality.
And Mr Hancock and Environment Secretary Michael Gove released their Clean Air Strategy just five months ago in January, which promised to cut down on pollution.
The Health Secretary called pollution a 'slow and deadly poison' days after experts warned Britons breathe in the equivalent of a cigarette a day.
The Government's Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has ordered a review into how much illness air pollution causes people in the UK
'Our health is shaped by the environment we live in and dirty air is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK,' Mr Hancock said, according to The Guardian.
'We cannot underestimate the very real impact that dirty air – this slow and deadly poison – is having on our lives, our health and our NHS.'
The review will help officials to 'map out' how much disease is caused by pollution and how many lives the clean air strategy could save.
It was announced as hundreds of people protested on the streets of London last weekend in a Mothers Rise Up march to demand action on climate change.
The review adds to commitments from the NHS to reduce emissions from its vehicles by 20 per cent within five years.
And by 2028 at least 90 per cent of NHS vehicles will use low-emission engines, while the DHSC claims coal and oil-powered central heating will be phased out in health service buildings.
Mr Hancock added: 'Our recent clean air strategy sets out some bold steps on cleaning up our air, but it is also vital that we have accurate long-term data on the potential health impacts of pollution.
'This review will help us map out how much disease is caused by dirty air and what steps we are taking to prevent
