The 1952 London Smog Disaster

The London smog disaster of 1952 is said to be one of the worst cases of air pollution in the London's history. On the surface, the smog disaster only seemed like an intense cloud that made life inconvenient for Londoners from December 5 to December 9, 1952. Public transportation and airport visibility levels were at dangerously low levels, but it was quickly revealed however, that the smog that was covering the city was more than just an occurrence that decreased visibility; it was a major health issue.

In the days following the London smog, there were many reports of death and illness suffered by local residents. Conservative estimates place the number of deaths at around 4,000 with more liberal estimations reaching as many as 12,000 deaths. In addition to these deaths, over a 100,000 residents reported becoming mildly to violently ill. It is understood that the main causes of death from this cloud of toxic smog were pneumonia, bronchitis, tuberculosis and heart failure. The respiratory issues that other residents became ill from included shortness of breath, chest pains, inflammation of the lungs, damage to the respiratory skills, permanent lung damage with reduced quality of life and increased number of asthma attacks. For Londoners with heart problems, cardiovascular effects were seen because there was a lack of oxygen in the blood as a result of the low air quality of the smog.

Why did the London smog leave thousands of city dwellers sick and even worse leave many of them dead? The answer to this question lies in the combination of pollution and weather. London was a city that relied mainly on coal for the production of heat, energy and industry. The fact that London used so much coal meant that there was a great deal of discharged soot in the air. The combination of this soot with fog is one of the earliest definitions of smog. Smog was an occurrence that London was familiar with, but the weather experienced for that short December period was not. A strange weather phenomenon known as temperature inversion was the cause for the London smog disaster of 1952. The inverted air remained cool and static for those five days, meaning that the sun was never able to break down the fog terrorizing the city. This meant that, while normally smog would quickly be ushered off by a combination of sun and wind, during the smog disaster, it simply remained still and unchanging. From December 5th to 9th, the equivalent of an unmoving toxic cloud engulfed the city. Inside of this cloud were dangerous levels of smoke particles, carbon dioxide, hydrochloric acid, fluorine, sulphur dioxide, and sulphuric acid. Though the people of London could handle these chemicals in small bouts, the constant presence of them brought about all of the serious health problems mentioned earlier.

The events of the great smog disaster opened the eyes of city officials to the dangers and apparent life threatening nature of smog and air pollution. While previously, it was known that smog could possibly cause some respiratory issues, the seriousness of these issues was not widely known or for that matter accepted. In the streets of London, the presence of a little air pollution was an accepted result of having a thriving, producing city. The deaths, sickness and chaos caused by the December smog disaster changed this approach. Soon after the incident, new regulations were created to attempt and reduce the presence of dirty fuels and black smoke. The Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968, along with the City of London (Various Powers) Act of 1954 were all created with the horrors of the great smog crisis in mind and put many restrictions on air pollution.