REPORT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS

London began spraying its roads with a dust suppressant on Friday to tackle its high air pollution levels.

The capital is close to breaching European Union legal limits for particulate matter (PM10), a pollutant produced mainly by engine emissions along with tire and brake wear.

London Mayor Boris Johnson hopes a six-month trial of the dust suppressant, designed to stop vehicle emissions re-circulating and choking residents, will cut PM10 levels by 10 to 20 percent.

"We expect this new measure to have an immediate impact on air quality in the most polluted areas of central London," he said.

Tests in Sweden, Norway, Austria, Italy and Germany have recorded similar success, Johnson said.

The dust suppressant, made from calcium magnesium acetate, works by sticking the particulate matter to the road.

Johnson is running the dust trial in two of London's worst affected areas, Victoria Embankment by the Thames river and the road west of King's Cross station, at a cost of 300,000 pounds.

"We have scoured the globe to find new ways to tackle pollution and found this wonderful contraption that tackles air quality head on, sticking particles to the roads' surface and preventing their dastardly escape back into the air we breathe," Johnson said.