Air Pollution and Health — Good News and Bad

Abstract

Early concerns regarding the health-related effects of air pollution originated from severe episodes in Meuse Valley, Belgium, in 1930; Donora, Pennsylvania, in 1948; and London, in 1952. Although the overall effects of these episodes continue to be debated, well-documented, episode-related increases in morbidity and mortality from cardiopulmonary causes provided dramatic evidence that extremely high concentrations of air pollution can have serious adverse effects on health. Early public-policy efforts to improve air quality in the United States, Britain, and elsewhere were largely attempts to avert such “killer” episodes of air pollution. In the United States, a series of national legislative and regulatory efforts to control air pollution were initiated (Fig. 1); National Ambient Air Quality Standards were mandated and established; and dramatic, extremely severe episodes of air pollution were essentially eliminated.