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statement to this effect should find expression in new legislation, a
"Clean Air Act."
The nature and effects of air pollution.
The Interim Report, published in December, 1953, describes in
some detail the nature and amounts of air pollution at present in
this country:—
(i) the most serious problem is the pollution which arises from
the combustion of fuel (coal, oil and their products);
(ii) the effects are most severe, and the need for prevention is
most urgent, in the "black areas." These are the urban
areas which are liable both to heavy pollution and to
natural fog;
(iii) a distinction can be drawn between visible pollution by
smoke, grit and dust, and pollution by invisible gases, the
most important of which are the oxides of sulphur ;
(iv) more than half of all the smoke comes from industrial
sources and railways, but for each ton of coal burnt domestic
chimneys produce twice as much smoke as industry and
discharge it at a lower level;
(v) nearly all the grit and dust comes from industrial sources,
including power stations and railways;
(vi) sulphur dioxide is discharged wherever coal, coke or oil is
burnt, whether in industrial or domestic premises;
The effects on health.
Whilst scientific evidence about the effects of air pollution on
human health is incomplete, enough is known to make it abundantly
clear that it is injurious to both physical and mental wellbeing.
The effects of the London fog of December, 1952, which resulted
in the deaths of some 4,000 people, have been the subject of a
recently published report by an expert committee appointed by the
Minister of Health. The Beaver Report deals rather with the
consequences of the continuing air pollution persisting year in and
year out over wide areas of the country. There is a clear association
between pollution and the incidence of bronchitis and other respiratory
diseases. Statistics show that every year the death rate from
bronchitis in England and Wales is much higher than in other
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