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6
vention. The highly competitive nature of life today, the
pursuit of ever-increasing standards of living, automation,
and the advances of science and technology, good in many
respects, unfortunately bring with them new hazards to
human health and happiness, e.g. radio-active contamination,
atmospheric pollution, noise, sophistication of our food
supplies, speed and a materialistic outlook which is not conducive
to the mental health of the population.
In 1950, the first year in which separate figures became
available for cancer of the lung, the number of deaths from
this cause was 16 compared with 26 in 1962 and 32 in 1963.
The number of deaths ascribed to coronary disease similarly
rose from 37 in 1950 to 105 in 1962 and 101 in 1963.
During the period 28th October to 1st November, 1963,
a Smoking and Health Campaign was held in conjunction
with Bexley and Erith. The spearhead of this was a five day
visit to the area of the Central Council for Health Education
mobile unit which visited a number of secondary schools
and a Youth organisation. Films were shown at those schools
not actually visited by the Unit. Ten thousand copies of a
personal letter addressed to parents by the Medical Officer
of Health were distributed thoughout the schools and a large
number of leaflets and posters were made available in the area.
The Campaign made a good impact on the public at
the time but I fear that it will take much more than this to
shake the public generally out of their apathy in regard to
this problem. Section 32 of the Children and Young Persons
Act, 1963 substantially increases the penalty for the sale of
tobacco to persons under 16 years of age but it would appear
that the problem of enforcement will remain.
The picture is much brighter in regard to the older
epidemic's. In 1946 five cases of diphtheria were notified
in the Borough (22 cases with one death in 1940, 35
cases with 3 deaths in 1931). There has not been a single
notified case of diphtheria in the Borough for the past 14
years. In the late summer of 1947, suddenly and unaccountably,
poliomyelitis struck the country after many years ot
relative quiescence. Six cases occurred in the Borough
with one death. Immunisation against this disease began
in 1956 and it is significant that, since that time, there has
been a remarkable decline in poliomyelitis. The number of
cases in Erith in the six years period 1958 to 1963 was one
compared with 28 the previous six years. Few would deny
that this decrease is closely related to the immunisation of
children and young adults in the Borough first by the Salk
vaccine and now by the oral vaccine which has almost
replaced the former.