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206
Pollution Recording
Four atmospheric pollution measuring stations are maintained
by the Council and the daily mean concentrations of smoke and
sulphur dioxide are calculated on readings taken at these stations.
No heavy atmospheric pollution was recorded during the year.
Staff
Within the Borough a Principal Clean Air Inspector and a team
of one Clean Air Inspector and two Technical Assistants are
employed full-time on duties in connection with atmospheric pollution
and with the surveying and inspections of properties in
Smoke Control Areas. Such duties involved a total of 5,778
inspections and visits.
Lead Poisoning
On being notified of the death from lead poisoning in the
Brook Hospital of a girl of 4 years, the Public Health Inspector
visited the family with a view to ascertaining possible sources of
lead in the home.
It transpired that the child's long-standing pica had been concentrated
on the paintwork of a window cill, samples from which
were submitted for analysis. The Public Analyst reported that
the samples contained 2.3% of lead, equivalent to 23,000 p.p.m. In
the case of toys, the limit imposed by the Toys (Safety) Regulations,
1967, is 5,000 p.p.m. in the dry paint film. Although
covered with modern gloss paint, the lead limit of which is 1%
or 10,000 p.p.m. in dry paint film, on this cill there were several
underlying layers of old paint which contained lead well in
excess of the present British Safety Standards and it was these
concentrations which eventually led to the girl's demise.
This unfortunate incident serves to emphasise that lead poisoning
is not confined to industrial workers only but that it extends
to the public in general. Quite apart from the lead industry
itself when dust can be disseminated into the atmosphere or carried
away on workers clothing, other sources of lead pollution of
the environment include dust from the weathering of lead paint,
anti-knock compound in petrol, water conveyed in lead piping,
solder used in food canning, lead alloys in sanitary fittings and
plating of cooking utensils, etc. Some imported glazed and enamelled
pottery have produced significant amounts of lead and
cadmium when treated by a dilute solution of acetic acid under
conditions likely to be met in cooking. Even food is not blameless.
Lead has been found in various amounts and on various
occasions in wine, cider, tea, curry powders, fish paste, sardines,