FOR the first time in over a million years the carbon dioxide levels have reached 380 parts per million according to reputable international scientists.

Plant life will be inhibited when we reach 500 parts per million and with the industrialisation of China and India running at full flow, how long will it take? It may appear to industrialists that environmentalists such as myself keep pressing for improvements in emission output. From our viewpoint we can lead the world in environmental responsibility and that is the only way we can encourage others.

Currently we are having to encourage industry to resist the government policy directive of incinerating every type of hazardous waste as fuels, which are supported by spurious data and misinformation.

The use of the Royal Society's name justifying the safety of incineration misrepresented what they actually said in their reports, which cautioned the use of hazardous waste as fuel, not endorsed it.

Yet once again Government representatives this week used the Royal Society report to mislead an enquiry in Cambridge. It is my belief that a new Clean Air Act which targets a reduction of manmade chemicals within a short time scale is essential, and any political party that shows it understands the concerns of the public about environmental health and will deliver a policy of change will gain a landslide in votes.

Needless to say it's all talk so far and the bets are in that industry would water down any policy by pressurising weak and inefficient politicians.

Not much hope for the planet, when a country that led the world in so many social and environmental ways cannot find the direction to extract itself from its own mess.

D Levy, Chapmanslade