Sir - This week the Vatican has declared pollution to be a 'social sin'. It "has installed photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming and climate change, widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels" (Reuters, March 10).

Oxford has had traffic problems for 50 years. During that time pollution in Oxford has risen to illegally high levels. Coincidentally, the number of people who have developed asthma in the city has risen several-fold as well.

According to Sir Richard Peto, it is extremely difficult to prove definitively that the two are connected, but this is a man who, with Sir Richard Doll, took 50 years to prove that smoking raised one's chances of developing cancer.

Must we wait another 50 years before we admit to ourselves that the rising levels of particulates in the air negatively affect our airways and our overall health?

Can we turn a blind eye to the fact that the Westgate Partnership plans to invite into Oxford the same amount of traffic we get at the run-up to Christmas?

The other day I asked a delightful Irish girl what it was like having trams in Dublin. She bounced in her seat and said: "Oh! They're lovely!" Edinburgh is also planning to install trams: these Celts are on to something and it's not just good rugby.

Three of my friends have developed asthma since they have been living in Oxford. Trams or trolley buses are the obvious solution. We're guilty only of doing nothing. Couldn't we use 'planning gain' to squeeze a pot of gold from Capital Shopping for a project of this size and then make up the shortfall?

Bruce Heagerty Oxford