by Sebastian Blanco (Car and Driver) Cambridge, Massachusetts, this week became the first city in the U.S. to put health and environment warning labels on its gas pumps. – In related news, a nine-year-old girl in South London, England, became the first person whose death certificate lists her cause of death as “air pollution exposure.” – The coroner’s decision came after a years-long fight by the girl’s mother, who said it wasn’t just about justice, but also “about other children, who are walking around cities with high levels of air pollution.”
Ella Kissi-Debrah is not the first person to die from the impacts of air pollution, but this week she became the first to have “air pollution exposure” listed as a cause on her death certificate. Kissi-Debrah was a nine-year-old girl who passed away in 2013 following a severe asthma attack, and in the years since, her mother has fought tirelessly to get her cause of death labeled for the world to see. She worked with a human rights lawyer to collect evidence about just how much pollution her daughter was exposed to, and how her life in South London meant she came into contact with pollution levels above legal limits. The U.K.’s