New air pollution standards show profit is paramount

It seems irrelevant, amid the biggest health crisis that this country has faced, to see environmental activists complaining about air pollution standards.

Yet, in a critical way, our badly polluted atmosphere – enabled by lax laws on air quality – is going to play a role in the coming coronavirus death toll. How many South Africans with lungs and respiratory systems damaged by air pollution will be at greater risk from the virus complications?

So, air quality is not some “bunny hugger” topic.

The activists are right to be concerned about the last-minute changes to air pollution standards, because these allow double the sulphur dioxode emissions that were originally agreed to.

Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy, in gazetting the amended, and less onerous, standards, made it plain that the cost for industry to comply was too high.

That is disappointing because it shows that the pursuit of profit – tart it up as much as you like with the mantra of “job creation” – still takes precedence over the lives of ordinary South Africans.

This corona pandemic is going to make all of us – and not just the government – take a long hard look at what is most important to us.

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