Petrol and diesel pumps should carry cigarette packet-style warning labels as a shock tactic, a group of public health experts has claimed.
The Times reports scientists have called for “shocking” images including blackened lungs and flooded houses to be displayed on pumps as a warning about the negative effects of using the fuels, such as pollution and climate change.
Such labels are already in use on fuel pumps in the city of Vancouver, Canada, while Sweden is also set to introduce them in May.
The comments were made in an article published on the British Medical Journal’s website and led by Mike Gill, a former regional director of public health in south-east England. The article claims the same attitude taken towards smoking should be adopted in order to “sensitise people to the consequences of their actions”.
“Smoking is no longer viewed as a normal lifestyle choice,” the article claims, “but as an addiction which harms the individual and those around them through exposure to second-hand smoke. Fossil fuel use also harms others through ambient air pollution that accounts for about 3.5 million premature deaths per year, as well as through climate change, which increasingly threatens the health of current and future generations.”
The group is calling for labels to be brought in this year, ahead of the United Nations COP26 climate conference in November.
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Diesel cars should come with a noise pollution warning
On the window of every new diesel car, there should be a large sticker saying:
Warning: this vehicle causes extreme noise pollution
1. Engine sounds like two skeletons in a dustbin2. When you start it up in the morning, your neighbours will think Farmer Giles has just arrived in his tractor3. If you’ve forgotten to put the bins out, and you think you’ve just heard the dustbin lorry, don’t panic, it’s just Fred next door starting his TDI4. After 3 years of ownership, noise levels will increase further, causing permanent wince on the faces of all drivers5. No refunds will be provided to owners who subsequently realise their catastrophic error and wish to trade their diesel car for an EV.
Not just diesels!
My next door neighbours have a V8 engined Porsche Cayenne and a VW GOLF R. When they start up it is like thunder breaking out. My Octavia VRS TDi sounds like the dawn chorus in comparison.
Oh, and catastrophic error? I don't think so. My car cost a LOT less than either of theirs, yet it is around 10-20 mpg more economical than either of them, and they would have to drive like a maniac to go anywhere quicker than me on the public roads around where we live.
Pointless
Those hideous warnings have been on fag packets for years, and you can't even see the tobacco on display in shops anymore. The result? The country is still full of morons who smoke. More people need to drive a car than to smoke, so warnings like these will have no effect at all.
Gloves..
Take note, people are stealing the free gloves at Petrol stations,and your bins outside, wipe them before you bring them back in after emptying, bin men handle thousands of bins everyday,so they can carry germs.