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These figures indicate a high general standard of living conditions in
the population, the only possibly disturbing figure being the high percentage
of elderly persons living alone. One would, however, like to know how many of
them have regular and easy contact with relatives, friends and neighbours and
live alone by personal choice, before attaching too much importance to this
figure.
CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
This was highly satisfactory, the number of notifications being
negligible for a district of this size. The single case of typhoid was
infected while on holiday in Spain.
Venereal diseases are of course not notifiable, and modern
permissiveness combined with replacement of barrier contraceptives by"The
Pill" have undoubtedly given rise to some increase in the incidence of these
infections in recent years. Its extent is difficult to estimate, as the
figures are enlarged by a greater readiness of those exposed to attend the
clinics than in former years, and by vigorous chasing up of contacts; so
there is less concealment, and the ultimate results should be beneficial.
There was in fact a slight fall in the number of new cases seen at clinics in
England in 1972 compared with 1971. I would hazard a guess that the number of
venereal infections now occurring among residents of this district does not
exceed between 20 and 30 per annum.
DIESEL EXHAUST FUMES
It is surely worth noting that despite the universal declarations
of its harmlessness, exhaust from diesel engines has been the subject of
numerous recommendations, regulations and continuing research. The general
public and their representatives are clearly not convinced that the evidence
of their eyes and noses and stomachs can be ignored with equanimity, as the
number and size of diesel powered vehicles on the roads continues to increase.
Subjective methods of measuring visible smoke are many, but in
general they are unreliable. Light obscuration meters, light dispersal
meters and filter-soiling meters have been used in many countries under various
conditions, to produce a chaotic mass of knowledge, standards and regulations.
Although such measurements could perhaps be standardised and form a basis for
controlling the amount of unburnt fuel shed into the atmosphere,(and thus
generally help to reduce pollution) they do not measure the toxicity or public
health hazard of the exhaust emission. Similarly, the only available
instrument so far for measuring odour being the nose, it would seem impractical
to recommend a control-regulation on this basis on public health grounds.
At present there is a lack of information about the minimum
atmospheric concentrations of diesel smoke and gases which are really harmful,
having regard to the population density of the locality, the climatic conditions
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