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70
There is no doubt that greater quantities of dust and grit are
emitted from industrial furnaces but the domestic fire, because of
its comparative low temperature of burning, is responsible for a
smoke much higher in hydrocarbon or tar content. Further, the
industrial pollution is usually dispersed at higher levels and the
concentrations are therefore well diluted by the time they reach
street level. Domestic smoke on the other hand is discharged at
low level from short flues with the result that it lingers and eddies
thus constituting a greater danger to the local inhabitants. In this
respect it has been proved that smoke concentration is relative not
to the size of the town but to the density of the population and its
domestic coal consumption per square mile. Research has revealed
that for every ton of coal burned industrially, approximately 4 1/2 lbs.
is lost in smoke whereas the comparable figure for a domestic
open coal fire is 90 lbs.
In England and Wales some 30,000 deaths and over 30.000,000
working days per year are lost on account of bronchitis and.
according to statistics available from the World Health Organisation
it would appear that our overall respiratory death rate is the
highest. To many responsible people much of this lung disease is
attributable to air pollution and my Reports have constantly drawn
attention to the enormous and costly damage to life and property
occasioned by such vitiation.
Effects of atmospheric pollution may be summarised thus:—
(a) An increase in deaths from respiratory and heart diseases
which appears to be proportional to the amount of
impurities and length of exposure.
Pneumoconiosis, arising in various industries, is attributable to the
inhalation of dust and it is reasonable to suppose that constant
exposure to a heavily polluted atmosphere could lead to some disability
or aggravate one already existent. A normal reaction to the
constant inhalation of dust is a low grade inflammation—the
lining of the lung is stimulated to secrete mucous in order to remove
the soot, dust, ash or other irritant and this can and often does lead
to catarrh and bronchitis. In addition, fibrosis resulting from
irritation impairs the lungs' elasticity which in turn tends to prevent
normal drainage so necessary with respiratory diseases. Besides
radio active particles, atmospheric dust is known to contain varying
quantities of other carcinogens such as arsenic, benzpyrene and
other coal tar products. The latter substances are known to be in
greater concentration during the winter months, suggesting very