Tokyo Ordered to Pay Asthmatics

Anti-traffic campaigners in Tokyo won a landmark legal victory yesterday when a court awarded them 79.2 million yen (£380,000) for illnesses caused by exhaust fumes.

Rejecting the authorities' claims that the capital had overcome its pollution problem, the Tokyo district court ordered both city and central governments to pay between 3m yen and 28m yen to seven asthma sufferers.

"The extent of the violation is very serious," the court said. "The large volumes of exhaust that are continually released have caused and exacerbated bronchial asthma, which can endanger a person's life."

Although the verdict did not recognise the plaintiffs' claims against seven carmakers, ministers said it would accelerate moves to improve the urban environment.

"The judgment is a very severe one," said the land and transport minister, Chikage Ogi. "Improving the environment of road transportation is an urgent matter, and I've directed the ministry to promote new measures to deal with the problem."

The court said the authorities had been negligent in planning, building and managing Tokyo's roads. In some places, lorries thunder along elevated expressways within spitting distance of flats.

The Tokyo governor, Shintaro Ishihara, acknowledged that particulate matter from diesel engines posed health risks to millions of residents.

"Although I have some problems with the verdict, it is the responsibility of the administration to help those whose health has been damaged by exhaust fumes. I am one of the victims too," he said.

In a jarring contradiction of the government's 1988 assessment that Tokyo was no longer polluted, the court awarded damages to a plaintiff whose asthma condition was not recognised by the authorities because it developed after that break-off year.

However, it rejected similar claims by 92 plaintiffs, saying a causal relationship between their illnesses and traffic had not been proved. All seven successful plaintiffs lived within 50 metres of a major road.

The lawsuit had also sought damages from Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and four other makers of diesel-engined vehicles, but the court accepted claims that the pollution was caused by poor urban planning, not vehicle design. The plaintiffs, unhappy that their suit has not been met in full, may appeal.

The ruling - the first of several ongoing pollution suits - is expected to force the government to tighten controls on diesel emissions and boost Tokyo city government plans to tax high-polluting vehicles.