GAS DANGERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 257, 31 October 1933, Page 16

GAS DANGERS.

NEED OF RESEARCH. That the gas attack from the exhausts of motor cars would, if intensified, force users of city streets to wear masks was a statement at the meeting of the British Medical Association, held in Dublin recently. Everyone is aware of the danger of carbon monoxide, and yet there is an almost complete lack of scientific research to determine, for instance, the proportion of this gas in the atmosphere of a crowded street ehufc in by houses. For the very little knowledge that we possess on the subject we are largely indebted to America. "That the blood of traffic policemen has been found to be charged at high concentration with carbon monoxide is proof of the urgent need of investigations," said Sir William de Courcy Wheeler. "There can be no question but that the blood of other people who spend a large proportion of their time in close proximity to motor traffic would be found to be similarly charged. The permeation of the atmosphere with these gases is accountable for an unestimated annual rise in the death rate. "First and foremost, steps should j be taken to estimate precisely the extent of the danger. We should have full' knowledge of the amount of gas present in the streets in certain conditions, to what extent it is actively dangerous, and to what extent it merely causee a feeling of lassitude. We should have full knowledge as to how much the headaches experienced 'by many people after motoring , in saloon cars, even in the country, are due to the presence of carbon monoxide in the body. The whole field of the harmful effecte_ of carbon monoxide gae should be painstakingly explored without delay." The view that it should not be beyond the power of science to find some chemical constituents to combat the effect of the poisonous gases emitted was supported by a speaker before the association. Let the extent of the danger from the gases be accurately gauged, and science will produce ■ something (other than gas masks!) to overcome it.