Did the pollution cause the death of 9-year-old Ella? Long-awaited investigation in London

The case has been scrutinized since its inception on the other side of the Channel, because it could set a precedent.

Has air pollution in London caused the death of a little girl?

Seven years after Ella's death, justice began to study the circumstances of the death of this little girl on Monday.

Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah died on February 15, 2013 of a severe asthma attack after nearly three years of repeated attacks and more than 30 hospitalizations related to this disease.

She was nine years old.

At the end of a first round of hearings in 2014, justice determined that she had died of acute respiratory failure caused by severe asthma.

But those findings were overturned in 2019 and a new investigation was ordered due to new scientific evidence.

The coroner, responsible for identifying the reason for the death, began Monday to study the levels of pollution to which Ella was exposed and will determine, after two weeks of hearing, if they caused her death.

If he concludes that air pollution directly caused Ella's death, it would be a UK first.

"Icy rhythm"

Her mother, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, hopes to "finally get the reason for her death on her death certificate" and push the authorities to take action against air pollution.

Some days, Ella had "extremely severe attacks, she stopped breathing", described her mother, questioned before the start of the hearings.

The rest of the time, she "led a normal life", playing the piano or the guitar, taking care of her little brother and sister and dreaming of becoming an airplane pilot.

Ella lived less than 30 yards from the South Circular, a busy route in South London.

In 2018, Professor Stephen Holgate, a British air pollution expert, noted a "striking link" between Ella's emergency hospitalizations and the recorded peaks of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and airborne particles, the most harmful pollutants.

“It shocked me, it made me angry, but it also made me extremely sad that there was nothing we could do to help her,” recalls Ella's mother.

London children more likely to be hospitalized

The investigation will examine possible failures by authorities to act to reduce pollution and educate the public about health risks.

On Monday, on the first day of the hearing, family lawyer Richard Hermer accused Lewisham ward officials of delaying action against the soaring pollution levels.

Once the local council assessed the borough's air quality, it took three years for an action plan to be designed and another four years for it to be formally adopted.

"It's a freezing pace in the context of a public health emergency, isn't it?"

Said Richard Hermer, calling on Lewisham's environmental officer, David Edwards.

“When you look at it in the current context, definitely, yes,” replied David Edwards.

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Officials from the Ministries of Transport, Environment and Health will be heard, as well as Professor Holgate.

According to figures from the City of London, 99% of the city exceeds the limits recommended by the WHO in terms of air pollution.

Last month, the Executive Director of the Clean Air Fund, Jane Burston, noted "that children in London are 4.2% more likely to be hospitalized with asthma on days when nitrogen dioxide pollution is high".

The Labor Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said last month with supporting figures that air quality had improved since 2016. He highlighted the measures put in place since his election, including the entry into force last year of an "ultra-low emission zone" (ULEZ) which forces the drivers of the most polluting vehicles to pay a daily tax on entry.

In France, the responsibility of the State was recognized for the first time regarding pollution at the end of June 2019. The State was prosecuted for its inaction in the face of air pollution, targeted by a recourse for "faulty deficiency" filed by a mother and her daughter suffering from serious respiratory pathologies.