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Article: Fifty years later: clearing the air over the London smog. (NIEHS News).
- Article from:
- Environmental Health Perspectives
- Article date:
- December 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Between 5 December and 9 December 1952, one of the deadliest recorded episodes of urban smog occurred in London, England. New research indicates that as many as 12,000 people may have died as a result of the smog, and morality from respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis and pneumonia increased more than seven-fold during the smog. Overall death rates during the first half of that month were three times higher than normal, and morbidity and mortality rates in greater London remained elevated well into March of 1953.
The severity of the 1952 London Smog, along with the publicity surrounding it and other smog episodes in the early twentieth century, had two ...