The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Friday that its regulations on diesel-engine vehicles have helped reduce elemental carbon and cancer-causing particulate matter in the air in Tokyo.
Since Oct. 1, Tokyo and neighboring Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures have imposed a cap on the amount of particulate matter emitted by diesel vehicles.
According to air samples taken in the Iogi tunnel in Suginami Ward, the volume of elemental carbon in the air as of Nov. 9 and 10 was down 49 percent from the March 11-12, 2001 level.
The metro government said the data showed three cancer-causing pollutants also dropped by 28 percent to 58 percent.
"We will push the central government to promote measures against air pollution, by presenting this data," Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara told reporters Friday.
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