Concorde as 'a life-saver’

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33815, 11 April 1975, Page 15

Concorde as 'a life-saver’

(NZ Press Assn—Copyright) I LONDON. A team of British doctors; has put forward a theory thatl the Concorde supersonic airliner could be a life-saver for thousands of old people ail over the world. According to the research ’ team, at Bristol Royal Infirm-; ary. the ozone level in the Earth’s upper atmosphere has’ increased by 10 per cent in! the last decade. This, the doc- i tors say in a letter to the Bri-[ fish medical iournal. "The! Lancet.” reduces the amount! of sunlight filtering through; to the Earth, and this de-j prives old people of bone-! strengthening vitamin D. i made naturally in the skin 1 when exposed to sunlight. ! “It is alleged by the vociferous anti-Concorde lobby in Britain that exhaust fumes from the aircraft will upset the ozone layer,” the doctors say. “That’s good news — disturbance to the ozone layer means more ultra-violet radiation, which means more vitamin D.”

The medical team gives figures to show a 12 per cent increase in broken bones in people over 65, at which age a break can often lead to I death

A spokesman for the Brit-: ish Aircraft Corporation, the ■ manufacturer of the Concorde : — also in Bristol — said that a sheaf of scien- j tific reports had indicated! that the Concorde would not' disturb the ozone layer.