Pollution control

Press, 24 February 1977, Page 16

Pollution control

Sir, —As a chemical engineer concerned about our environment. I take issue with the comments of W. Thomas made to the N.Z.I.E. conference last week and reported in “The Press” (February 18). He seems unaware that pollution affects not just the “comfort and well-being of our affluent New Zealand society,” but the biosphere as a whole, upon which our very existence depends, let alone our export markets. He also claims that “the planet in which we live has a natural assimilative capacity to handle the pollutional load.” Without suitable qualifications, this statement is nonsense, since it ignores the intense local effects caused by many effluents, effects which usually disrupt any “natural assimilative capacity.” The future of our environment must be discussed in an atmosphere of calm and reason, avoiding hysteria —on both sides of the debate!—Yours, etc.. N. J. PEET. Senior lecturer in Chemical Engineering. February 21, 1977.