EESA10H3 Lecture Notes - Cirrhosis, Teratology, Lead
Document Summary
1- in 1952, 4000 excess deaths occurred due to a case of severe air pollution. (that is what mentioned in your chapter). Background information: in december 1952, there was a large amount of coal being burnt (it was winter), resulting in a lot of smoke emitted into the air from chimneys. There was very little wind and the air was moist. The combination of these factors resulted in the formation of a very dense smog due to temperature inversion: the air near the ground is usually warmer but at night it cools down. Usually, the sun in the morning breaks the inversion but the smog was so thick that it persisted for 5 days! The smog containing high levels of air pollutants caused many health related diseases as the smog was concentrated at a very low elevation people were breathing it.