A coroner’s inquest into the death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah reached a remarkable conclusion last week. The ruling by the Southwark Coroner’s Court, issued December 16, officially concluded that air pollution was a cause of death for the girl, 9, who had lived near South Circular Road in London.
Pollution kills some 200,000 Americans every year, since exposure to toxins makes people more vulnerable to respiratory and heart diseases, cancers, and other illnesses. But the Trump administration has finalised a rule to base pollution restrictions on cost, not on human safety.