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The relative proportions of smoke from domestic and industrial chimneys in any area depend
mainly on whether the area is residential or industrial. Over the whole country roughly equal
amounts of smoke — about one million tons per annum — are produced from each type of chimney,
i.e. a total of approximately two million tons of smoke each year.
There are important chemical differences between domestic and industrial smoke. The domestic
smoke is produced at low temperatures and contains much tarry matter. Industrial smoke contains
much less tarry material. Industrial chimneys account for about twice as much SO2 and ash as
domestic chimneys.
Railway locomotives, ships and internal combustion engines are further sources of atmospheric
pollution. Locomotives and ships produce localised problems. The internal combustion engine is
relatively unimportant but will become a factor when the present more important sources, e.g.
coal, have been dealt with.
4. EFFECTS OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
(a) On Health

The death rate for respiratory complaints in England and Wales is about 15 times as high as
in Sweden and 35 times as high as in the U.S.A. The highest respiratory death rates in England
and Wales are in the most densely populated areas where the atmospheric pollution is also
highest.
Bronchitis is the commonest respiratory disease in this country accounting for 30,000 or
more deaths each year. In addition to the deaths it also causes enormous economic loss through
and serious disablement and misery to individual sufferers who experience many years of
inevitable increasing distress and disability. Men are more commonly affected than women. The
mortality rate from bronchitis in the Greater London Area is comparable to those of the industrial
North, the Midlands and South Wales.
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