1953: Effects of air pollution

“It is established that illness and deaths can result from smog or other industrial incidents of air pollution. The question is how to attack the problem, recognizing that both environmental and health measurements are very poor. We still do not know what levels of pollution cause ill health. We also do not know what the measurements of ill health are. We do know that the symptoms which are chiefly experienced by people during smog disasters are respiratory, shortness of breath, coughs, and in later stages, cyanosis. They become more prone to colds, upper respiratory infections, and nasal and eye irrigation; so that these symptoms become the logical ones to begin with in trying to determine the effect of air pollution.”

(Source: Dr. A.F.W. Peart, Chief, Epidemiology Division, Department of National Health and Welfare, Dominion Council of Minutes, 1953)