Pollution explosion; 2

National Educational radio presents the following program in cooperation with a group w o the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company. Polluted polluted water. Conditioned satirizes because it now exists in what was once spoiled paradise. So the problem is pollution in America that President Johnson listed it as the second step in developing his Great Society. Raising it to equal status with education. And the war on poverty. The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company presents the pollution explosion

parts study of the rising water in America. When Tater. Is ailing the recent water shortage in the east and the rise in the lung disease emphysema among residents of been areas have to emphasize the extent of pollution to the public. But concern was evident even earlier as the quality of American life began to change after World War Two. Historically Americans have been too busy building a nation to worry about pollution. But the great social legislation of the 30s and the enormous growth and prosperity of the 40s and 50s provided a solid economic base for the majority of Americans and people were finally able to pursue the qualitative as well as the quantitative aspects of life. Dr. Allan Hirsch program planned for the federal water pollution control administration.

And I think. This is a concern certainly a very important part of it. We have 300 million people. Concentrated. Recognition. Harness the scientists engineers will come forward with a real

program and. Task. Ahead of us. If we didn't have this kind of public support and public recognition the most obvious manifestation of Americans emphasis on the quality of life. Can be found in the political hustings burnout Hillenbrand spokesman for the National Association of Counties on the political platform. The economy is spending in a climate of vastly changed. I. Think it's significant for example that most of our local elected officials now run campaigns that they're going to clean up the screen they're going to improve the system they're going to eliminate the ugliness. And the public knows that these are going to cost money. This is a radical attitude a few years ago when local officials

expenditures. I think that the American public has now become. They know that it's going to cost money to clean up the air pollution and pollution and these other shores and I think something about it in this country today. There are 46 million children under 12. They need clean water for swimming. Last year an estimated seven million eight hundred sixty five thousand private boats. Recreational use. Their owners are demanding the right to free from debris and filth. The emphasis in water pollution control was on the health alone. Now it is health recreation and industrial need which is in affluent Americas mind recognizing the new dimension. President Johnson and the Congress recently gave new stature and scope to the federal water pollution control administration and

transferred it from the US public health service to the Department of Interior as interior secretary Stuart you would say is. I think one can say that the country really has new goals today in terms of what we would like to do with our rivers and our water supply. It's not merely a matter of as we thought only a few years ago or preventing them from becoming so dirty that they become a health hazard. It's a question of what we can do for the first time we say let's clean up our rivers let's make them available to people. Let's in effect return the water to the people for. Fish for a while first for all farms about the recreation. I think we will be amazed if we really can clean up some of the Rivers of America to find out what this means to people in terms of their lives. And this I think is the new goal that is exciting. Most people are somewhat familiar with the water pollution problem. It's visible. And well defined. The adverse effects of air pollution however are not so

well known mainly because so much of that problem is not noticeable on a day to day basis. Air pollution is an insidious enemy. It creeps up on its victims. Today's extensive medical research however has shown that it is much more dangerous to health than most people realize. In fact contends Dr. William H. Still what. Surgeon General of the United States. The primary reason. HUME And how exactly how does polluted air affect us. Dr Steven Ayres of the New York City St. Vincent's Hospital explains the injurious effects of various pollutants. We think that the irritant air pollutants irritate the produce cough. And. Susceptible people eventually produce respiratory disease known as emphysema. Now in general we can be alerted to the presence of these

irritating air pollutants we can smell them. We can see carbon particles. Now another irritating pollutant is the poor carbon. Burning soft coal and of other fuels produces particles of soot. This is the season. And. Perhaps most annoying to her. It may surprise you. That the US perform autopsies on city dwellers are very very black. The professor does not find the pink country people instead. And this. Is due to the accumulation of carbon particles. In the air passageways. Now we can't be sure. Particles are what we suspect the carbon particles carry

and various other gases such as nitrogen dioxide and other complicated was asked. Also Kerry is irritated. Which we think and to irritate the trache tree. Polluted air causes more than just lung disease. Not everyone is philosophical about it is the young lady you've just heard in Los Angeles California smog and the air of the large eastern cities are equally unpleasant and both threaten the delicate mechanism says Dr Gee Peter how New York City eye specialist and associate professor of ophthalmology at New York Medical College.

Factions inflammations. Contaminated. And by the contaminants it is a constant. And discomfort to many people. The important factor in inhibiting people. From bearing contact lenses with other particulate matter. We can feel and sense in the air but there are many pollutants we can't see can't even smell. Doctors and biochemist know about some of them however and think they affect the bodily

functions. Dr. Eris explain carbon monoxide to be fatal and if taken in certain concentrations we're beginning to now that even small amounts can cause damage. Carbon monoxide is quite common in city air. It is produced primarily by automobile exhaust. It's also produced by certain furnaces. I don't want to hate Joe. The carbon monoxide is inhaled by the. And does not irritate as these other pollutants do. Instead it combines with hemoglobin. Now hemoglobin is this red pigment that makes our blood red and hemoglobin is necessary for the carriage of oxygen into our tissue. Carbon monoxide

combines with hemoglobin and prevents the hemoglobin from combining with oxygen. If you want to look at it another red. Inhaling carbon monoxide is a little bit like being a MC or a part of your blood with a hemorrhage. Now when the carbon monoxide come with the hemoglobin in this way the battery does not get sufficient oxygen. And we have several ways of knowing this may be important. Several studies have shown that there are many traffic fatalities unexplained in the usual manner and it's very likely that these people had high levels of carbon monoxide from city driving and the carbon monoxide in their bread robbing their brain of vital oxygen. Their reflexes slowed down and they failed to make a strategic turn at the right moment and had an accident. The case against air pollution gets stronger and stronger and the surgeon generals do it. It's time to act.

We have enough evidence and. Enough feeling the probability that there is. Health is rather. High. In some instances we can. Be awfully awfully close to certain. Affecting their health. I think the reason the uncertainty comes about is that there's enough evidence from a health standpoint we can't sit back and wait until everything is collected. We've got to be conservative about health. We've got to. As we can't we can't wait until we have. Absolute. Proof. Air pollution affects other aspects of life besides health. It has a direct effect on plants and crops. Dr P. p. p. your own senior plant pathologist of the New York Botanical Garden part of some parts of it can cause serious damage to vegetables.

Would react. Reaction between sunlight on the ultraviolet light and sunlight and certain chemicals released by certain industries. Nitrogen oxide. This material is very toxic. Famous of the Los Angeles area which is related to this problem which causes damage. In fact we actually have smog damage on plants here in the US. He didn't think so a few years ago we thought most of the damage was due to sulfur dioxide. Now we know that other materials will cause death. Now there are things like carbon monoxide you know that's the deadly material released by automobile exhaust ethylene and carbon monoxide also toxic to vegetation. The traffic

from the intersection. Of different. Look at any grimy city building and you'll see one of the ugliest and most costly effects of dirty air. It's not just the dirt which damages buildings. Here is expert testimony from restoration expert Nicholson. President of Nicholson and Galloway in New York City just. One of the positive back of the structural building of the stonework and. Begins to rout out everything it touches.

Running out of steam. We work around. The last five items of this nature and in the past work an architectural. Machinery that is necessary for the operation of mechanical features of the building costs in many ways says Mr. Nicholson. The cleaning for a building maintenance cleaning is large. New York's structure is expensive and time consuming operation much of it has to be done on a time schedule. Increase the operating cost of attendance in one. Cost.

Much maintaining the building. Of comparable building therefore one of the most serious effects of air pollution is very simply that it is expensive to live with. Mrs B brand president of the New York City citizens for clean air. Says this cost often hits the people who are least able to pay them and that the cost of air pollution a family of four who are homeowners is about $800 a year. Apartment dwellers family middle income family of four is probably about $400. US government figures that it cost each individual $65 a year in

out-of-pocket expenses for the added. Cost of dirty air on their personal possessions. This says nothing about the price tag which you can't pay you can't estimate for the Help them edges that 30 year cost if nothing about the extra. Antihistamine pill that you buy because of increased call that your children have. Air pollution then affects health vegetation buildings the personal pocketbook. In short as in the case of water and land pollution it affects people and their everyday living. And there's more specialized groups of people have other kinds of problems. Smog and smoke restrict visibility and activity in flying. Listen to Mike Lee and President of executive flyers aviation Boston Massachusetts. The smog in this and the such. That many times you can fly over the smog directly down through it and see

the ground and actually see the airport. Below you down into the visibility. Actually you can see ahead of you. And this is when an aircraft have flown using its from its in the cockpit without using any visual reference at all. And. This. Is a very dangerous condition. You're flying in Los Angeles. Speaking now is a helicopter pilot now employed by air did in New York City. And. Due to the fact that the separation. Standards set up between aircraft. There was a prime. Area blog I would.

Often prevent think that it can definitely be a hazard. Mine are never many American military that haven't been many near misses between types of aircraft helicopters and airplanes. Shortly after this interview was recorded two helicopters on traffic watching missions did collide over Los Angeles fatally injuring all aboard. Although smog was certainly not the only cause of this tragedy said the helicopters both piloted by experienced man did not appear to have seen each other in spite of the fact that both approached from opposite directions. Since smog has the greatest effect on low flying and instrument aircraft by reducing the visibility necessary for safe navigation. It is possible the collision could have been avoided had the day been commercial planes the big jetliners don't depend on visibility anymore of cause and extended flight

instruments take the place of a pilot's fallible eyes but admit chief Roy Wilkins smog can affect the areas of takeoff and landing. I don't feel that visibility is a problem for commercial. Carriers. It does. Have some effect. On the. Control problems around the city's. Visibility. Being restricted. The acceptability of speed. Control. Problem. At busy airports. Mike in Boston explains the kinship of fog and smog together. Seriously. Flight schedules one of the major problems in aviation around these areas is the fact. And possibly a little known fact is that ordinary which it limits. Air travel in and out of these areas.

Is caused by smog. Any particle of fog has to form around a nucleus and a particular small nucleus. If the smog control program was generated. I think you would find that the number of cancellations in and out of these heavy metropolitan areas will be reduced a great deal. Even the movie industry once California's number one business has been adversely affected by the smog it obscures the famous California sunlight and perfect blue sky. See Mila Treasurer and past president of the American Society of cinematographic has a camera man who has worked in Hollywood since the days of silent films reminisce is now about the house again days of unlimited sunlight and point sadly to the ravages wrought by that uncontrollable demo or smog. Don't worry.

Come along and we started the. Experiments who. Try to get some kind of. Advancement of our art. When we got to the point where we spent so our film manufacturers have cooperated fully they give us. Nothing. And make tests. To manufacture. Them to get something that would penetrate. That we could come up with a good picture. So far we've been successful have grown up. Gotten as bad as it is I think within a radius of. Two hundred miles of where we sit here. You can find a location. That will represent any part of the world. But. Of course this.

Problem. Air pollution has really become so serious in. Metropolitan areas today where we talk about going outside for a breath of fresh air we know Secretary of the Interior do it your doll. I think there's no question but that a massive assault must be undertaken. On air pollution. Otherwise we just spend all of our time watching television I suppose rather than enjoying the outdoors and the question is whether we're to have. To preserve. An overall environment which is something that has appeal which adds to our lives. If we can't clean up our water and our air certainly this will be a different America and one that will be diminished. Now Secretary of Health Education and Welfare John Gardner. Well I think everyone agrees that the most serious effects are effects on. Air pollution. Has very serious consequences for a

variety of chronic diseases particularly Brown and emphysema. And lung cancer. It is. A very great problem for people who have asthma. And a variety of other allergies. You know there are other consequences health consequences. Styles everything that touches every house of life that. Affects the materials are familiar. To anyone in the construction trade. It affects affects rubber It affects almost any. Building material and. Very serious economic loss. The consequences for agriculture loss of crops livestock and other animals. Has been very well demonstrated. In fact. Economic losses from.

Air pollution have been estimated around the several billion dollars a year. And their final commentary was Bill de. Smog. Of course he's not a laughing matter. Neither is any form of pollution. But the problem is now is so universal. As with taxis and mothers in law. People laugh. And make jokes about it because the problem might overwhelm them. If they could. Prove w o the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company has presented the pollution explosion. A 10 part study of the increasing pollution of America's air and water the series was produced by Robert Franklin written and recorded by Stephanie Shelton

executive producer William J. Here again John Daly in the next two programs we'll highlight some of the city and state efforts to halt water pollution and look at some famous rivers and lakes with murky waters of a century. Of neglect. The ending on network cast presented this program in cooperation with a group w o the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company. This is the national educational radio network.