June 25, 1964
Page 15075
AIR POLLUTION -- A WORLD HEALTH PROBLEM
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, in the course of hearings on automotive exhaust problems before the Special Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution of the Senate Committee on Public Works, several witnesses suggested by their testimony that the air pollution problem is confined primarily to California. There was an implication that action on automotive exhausts need not be considered as an urgent matter in other areas.
As chairman of the subcommittee, I am cognizant of the widespread problem of air pollution and of the substantial impact automotive exhausts have on air pollution conditions in metropolitan areas in many sections of the United States. An article published in the Washington Post & Times Herald this morning indicates the extent of this problem in other parts of the world. I believe that Senators will be interested in this report on a 17-nation conference in Strasbourg, France, which highlights the medical findings of experts gathered to study the problem of air pollution in Europe.
I ask unanimous consent to have the article written by Howard Simons, entitled "Air Pollution Linked to Wide Range of Ills," and published in the June 25, 1964 Washington Post & Times Herald, printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD as follows.
[From the Washington Post, June 25, 1964]
AIR POLLUTION LINKED TO WIDE RANGE OF ILLS
(By Howard Simons)
STRASBOURG, FRANCE June 24. -- Air pollution was implicated today as a cause of several human ills ranging from lung cancer and bronchitis to rickets and anemia.
These were the chief medical findings reported to a European conference on air pollution that began here today. The 17-nation meeting of experts is being sponsored by the Council of Europe with the hope that a continent-wide program can be evolved to curb excessive smoke caused by industry, household heating systems and motor vehicles.
Though the link between air pollution and lung cancer is still only statistical, it is strong enough to convince experts that cleaner air means cleaner lungs and that cleaner lungs somehow are less likely to become cancerous.
Italian scientists, the conference heard, estimate that roughly 75 percent of lung cancer deaths in excess of the previously normal incidence are attributable to cigarette smoking and the remaining 25 percent to air pollution. Similar investigations in Ireland and the United States attribute about 20 percent of such deaths to air pollution, whereas in Britain the estimate is twice as high.
EFFECT OF POLLUTION
The gist of the medical reports today was that air pollution damages human health, but no one knows why or how. Thus there is good evidence that smog will increase the number of deaths among chronic heart and lung sufferers but, as one researcher put it, "it has not been possible to identify the individual pollutants responsible for this effect on human health."
Nor are the researchers certain that air pollution alone predisposes humans to lung cancer. Dr. J. D. Cottrell of the World Health Organization cautioned his fellow experts against holding tightly to the notion that respiratory diseases have a single cause.
"Lung diseases, for instance, might result from both atmospheric pollution and cigarette smoking," Dr. Cottrell said.
Dr. Cottrell also reported that recent studies by Czechoslovak researchers had linked air pollution to stunted growth and anemia in young Czechs. This led the WHO officials to comment that the old idea of "a black cloud causing rickets" might not be farfetched.
The "black cloud" in this case would be air pollutants that prevent the sun's rays and their health-giving properties from reaching the earth.
MORE RESEARCH NEEDED
If there was a theme to the various reports on the short-term and long-term effects of air pollution on human health, it was that more research is needed in every aspect of the challenge.
The experts seemed more nearly positive, however, about the effect contaminated air is having on plants and animals. The verdict is that the situation is already dangerous. Indeed, a French scientist warned the conference that "in certain regions of Europe life depends on immediate steps being taken to protect flora and fauna."
This pessimistic note was in contrast to a generally optimistic report on Britain's battle against pollution for Sir Keith Joseph, Minister of Housing and Local Government. Sir Keith reviewed his Nation's efforts to curb air pollution, which began 100 years ago this month.
He noted, for example, that as a result of the clean air bill of 1956, which makes it possible for the Government to dictate how the householder should heat his home, smoke emission has fallen off 35 percent. Former "black areas" are now becoming "white areas" and even in his once-heavily polluted hometown of Leeds, the inhabitants are "beginning to relish their environment," which they now are able to see again.
However, Britain has been unable to control pollution from motor vehicle exhausts.