The Donora Smog Revisited

70 Years After the Event That Inspired the Clean Air Act

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11037106
AutoresElizabeth T Jacobs (0000-0003-0598-4283, Elizabeth T. Jacobs is with the University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, and is also with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson. Jefferey L. Burgess is with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Mark B. Abbott is with Geology and Environmental Science, University of Pittsburgh, PA.), Jefferey L Burgess (0000-0003-2362-9509, Elizabeth T. Jacobs is with the University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, and is also with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson. Jefferey L. Burgess is with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Mark B. Abbott is with Geology and Environmental Science, University of Pittsburgh, PA.), Mark B Abbott (0000-0002-0299-928X, Elizabeth T. Jacobs is with the University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, and is also with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson. Jefferey L. Burgess is with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Mark B. Abbott is with Geology and Environmental Science, University of Pittsburgh, PA.)
Ano2018
Volume108
FascículoS2
PáginasS85-S88
Data de publicação2018-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
EditoraAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.2017.304219
PMID29698099
OpenAlexW2801886179
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas10
Referências citadas22

At a storefront museum approximately 25 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a sign reads, “Clean Air Started Here.” This is not hyperbole. At the end of October 1948, the communities of Donora and Webster in Pennsylvania were visited by a smog that changed the face of environmental protection in the United States. Conservative estimates showed that 20 individuals died, while an additional 5900—43% of the population of Donora—were affected by the smog. This event led to the first large-scale epidemiological investigation of an environmental health disaster in the United States. Questions remain about the long-term effects of the smog, because higher rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer than were expected were observed in the region in the decade following the smog. Recent work has suggested that environmental contaminants from a bygone era in Donora might have an impact even today. In addition, reports regarding air pollution have indicated that levels of pollutants similar to those estimated to have occurred in Donora are currently present in some rapidly industrializing regions of China and India. Seventy years after the smog, this event still resonates

Air pollution · Archaeology · China · Environmental health · Environmental protection · Geography · Hyperbole · Population · Air Quality and Health Impacts · Climate Change and Health Impacts · Energy and Environment Impacts · Medicine