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The death rate from bronchitis in England and Wales is about 50 times as great as in
Denmark and 20 times as great as in Norway and Sweden. These countries have climates not
unlike our own and winters which are generally much more severe. All three are non-industrial
and use very little coal as fuel and have clean atmospheres.
It is now generally accepted that atmospheric pollution is the important factor responsible
for the uniquely high incidence in this country of chest complaints and especially bronchitis.
Of the two polluting factors involved, smoke and SO2, smoke is much the more damaging to
health, hence the urgent need for the rapid introduction of smoke control areas throughout the
country. There are available reliable figures which show that as the amount of smoke increases,
as in fogs and smogs, the number of cases of respiratory illness and deaths from chest complaints
increases also. Fortunately, it is a much simpler technical problem to remove smoke
from the atmosphere than SO2.
Smoke is also a possible factor in the causation of lung cancer as smoke contains tarry
matter and tar contains materials capable of causing cancer.
Animals are not immune from the adverse effects of air pollution and many members will
remember the deaths in the December 1952 smog of valuable pedigree animals at the Smithfield
Show in London, which it will be recalled killed over 4,000 London residents as a result of the
4 or 5 days of intense smoke pollution. Sheep and cattle are also particularly sensitive to
fluorine which can be a form of atmospheric pollution near certain industries.
Other adverse effects on health of smoke in the atmosphere are due to a serious reduction in
the amount of sunshine and ultra-violet light which we receive, thereby predisposing to general
ill-health and especially tuberculosis and rickets. Most British towns lose from 25% to 55%
of the possible daylight from the presence of smoke alone. On gloomy days up to 90% of the
natural light may be lost which causes eye strain in indoor workers and leads to the frequent
use of artificial light.
The effects of breathing heavy concentrations of dust in industrial processes may be serious
and even fatal, but the amount of dust in the general atmosphere is too small to be of direct
danger to health. It does, however, add materially to the housewife's labours calling for
additional physical effort and reducing her time for relaxation and recreation. In persons of
appropriate temperament this could lead to psychological strain.
Complaints about grit and dust often arise from residents near factory chimneys, coal
fired power stations being common offenders causing heavy deposits of grit to fall on surrounding
areas.
(b) On Vegetation
An enormous amount of damage is done each year to vegetation by atmospheric pollution.
This affects plants in two ways:—
(i) by direct poisoning effects of the SO2 to which plants are particularly sensitive, and
(ii) by the clogging of the breathing pores in the leaves of the plant by smoke particles.
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