How city was cleaned up

Press, 20 October 1981, Page 6

How city was cleaned up

“Clean air is a right, not a commodity,” according to Professor Peter Safar, a world expert on resuscitation and anesthesiology. Professor Safar lives in what was one of America’s dirtiest cities,- Pittsburgh, which is surrounded by heavy industry, including steel mills. He is credited with developing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but spoke last evening at the Christchurch Clinical School about air pollution and health. He is the 1981 Sir James Wattle: Visiting Professor. - Dr Safar said that he was not an expert on; air pollution, but he had worked with; diseases such as asthma and. chronic bronchitis since the 1950 s ‘‘ln the; 19405, you- could see the city (Pittsburgh)

from the hills, but only occasionally.” But 30 years later that had changed because of pressure from individual activists and groups such as the one he . helped found, called G.A.S.P. (Group Against Smoke Pollution), a medical committee. In the last decade a law . was introduced prohibiting: coal burning in the furnaces of central heating systems. There was a switch to household gas and oil heating, although the latter was not a “cure-all,” said -Dr Safar, because it also contributed to pollution, i ‘ . ‘‘Not having to depend on . coal definitely gives a cleaner atmosphere,” he said. He saw a bright future‘for New Zealand’s atmosphere because of its “tremendous” hydro resources. . < . < In the 1970 s the steel and

other factories near Pittsburgh spewed out as much as 190,000 tonnes of particulate matter and 300,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide a year into the air of Alleghney County (in which Pittsburgh lies). In the next decade $250 billion would be spent on' control of pollution, in the. United States, he said. About 87 per cent of that will be required to meet the terms of the Federal Clean Air Act, which was introduced in 1970 and amended dn -1976..

The good news was that such measures would create an extra 300,000 jobs in one year in “clean-up” campaigns. “Pollution control is affordable,” he said. The cost . at the other end was significant too. About $7 billion had been lost a year in the . United States because of pol-

lution damage. Everything from crops to a statue, in . Central Park, New York, had been affected.

“If they (pollutants) damage rock, how can they say they don’t damage bodies?” Dr Safar said. Few doctors took environmental pollutants into account when evaluating conditions, he said.

When pollutants reached certain levels in Pittsburgh warnings were broadcast to the very young and the very elderly, asthmatics, and others , to stay inside, be inactive as possible, and not to associate with smokers.

Since the Clean Air Act had been enforced Pittsburgh had become a more beautiful city and civic pride was high, Dr Safar said.

“There’s not much civic pride in Christchurch on a winter’s night,” interjected a local expert.