§ 7. Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he has made a study of the May-June, 1961, issue of World Health and the monograph published by the World Health Organisation, copies of which have been sent to him; what further action he intends to take to clear poisons from the air, in view of a demonstration described on page six of World Health of the relation between air pollution and bronchitis, cancer and pneumonia and of the effects of exhaust from non-maintenance of diesel engines on the roads; and if he will institute a campaign to see that the Clean Air Act is fully implemented in all industrial areas before next winter.
§ Sir K. JosephI welcome all such publications which stress the importance of clean air. Local authorities in the black areas of England and Wales have made a start under the Clean Air Act, and my right hon. Friend will continue to urge progress upon them.
§ Mr. SmithDoes the Parliamentary Secretary agree that this is a fine publication, both in its informative character and in the way it is produced? Does not this World Health Organisation publication show the need for action of the kind suggested in the Question, especially in industrial areas, where we suffer from bronchitis and respiratory diseases more than any other country in the world?
§ Sir K. JosephThe principal feature in this publication was about the Los Angeles smog, which is of a different order and of a different seriousness than any we have here.
§ Mr. SmithIs it not a fact that the publication also emphasises the importance of dealing, for example, with the fumes from diesel engines? Are we not suffering to a great extent from this sort of thing, and, if that is correct, is it not time that the Minister took action?
§ Sir K. JosephWhile this Question is mainly for the Minister of Transport, the article referred to stated that motor vehicle exhaust did not cause cancer. That is the current result of research reported in the publication.