ROBERT J. ANDERSON Chief, Bureau of State Services Public Health Service, Washington, D.C.

I welcome you to this second National Conference on Air Pollution. The first National Conference on Air Pollution was devoted to analyzing what we knew or did not know about air pollution, so that we could begin working on the research programs that would provide the missing answers. That was 4 years ago. Now we are here to explore what we can do about it. The theme of this conference is "Let's Clear the Air."

I hope that the wonderful weather we are having outside today will prove to be a happy augury for the results of our deliberations here. The heavy, still, stagnant air mass that hung over the eastern seaboard of this country for the past 10 days or so seems to have moved on, taking with it the air pollution concentrations that were climbing to high figures. In London, too, the heavy smog which occurred there last week is also lifting and moving on.

In that connection, I have some news from our associate, Dr. Richard A. Prindle, who is now in London observing at firsthand the results of the tragic new smog episode which struck that vast city a few days ago. He left Washington as soon as we got word of the buildup of pollutants in the London area and, of course, in order to get there in time to make direct observations, he had to fly. But planes weren't flying into London last week; last Wednesday, the visibility there was only about 15 feet. So he had to detour via Frankfurt, Germany, and complete the last leg of his journey by train.

Yesterday we had a report from Dr. Prindle by phone. While the smoke is probably somewhat less, the pollutant concentrations seem to be at about the same level as in the disastrous smog of 1952. On Wednesday, sulfuric acid in the London atmosphere measured six-tenths of a milligram per cubic meter, and the sulfur dioxide concentration was two parts per million. By Friday, the latter had fallen to three-tenths of a part per million. With regard to health effects, there had been, in the 3 days through Wednesday, 394 emergency hospital admissions relating to respiratory conditions. This figure compares to about 489 in 1952. The number of deaths occurring on the streets alone totaled 106 through Wednesday. These are the deaths which are usually reported immediately through police channels; they do not include excess deaths which may have occurred in homes or hospitals. The totals will become available only as the city's vital records are analyzed later. Tentative British estimates of economic losses due to the eight work stoppages and interference with air and surface transportation are put at $30 million.

Dr. Prindle will, of course, continue to observe developments in this latest of the so-called "acute" air pollution episodes. Meanwhile, it serves to underline for us the fact that we are considering here a serious problem, a problem which has an important bearing on industrial life and metropolitan life throughout the world.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

ANTHONY J. CELEBREZZE Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Washington, D.C.

It is a pleasure to welcome you and to thank you for having taken time from your busy schedules to participate in this National Conference on Air Pollution. The tragic news from London that another serious smog episode has crippled and killed an as yet uncounted number of people in Great Britain adds a special note of urgency to our meeting. It will take many months, perhaps even years, before the full toll of damage, death, and disability has been computed. Even under the extreme circumstances of this air pollution disaster, it will be impossible to gage the full dimensions of the calamity until it has become history. If we must wait for the verdict of history on an event so obvious and so tragic, we need not be surprised if in 3 days a perfect consensus is not achieved here in our attempts to explore the full scope of air pollution.

The problems of our urban environment are more frequently subtle than obvious. As the former mayor of a large American city, I have had the privilege and the responsibility of meeting these problems at the local level. This level, all things considered, is our first line of defense against both the direct and the indirect threats to public health and welfare. By direct threats I mean those which receive most of the headlines-accidents, robbery, murder, fire, and storm. I mean also the many other visible natural and manmade hazards to person and property that a civilized community must control. The indirect threats are those which do not show themselves on the police docket, which invade the privacy of home, factory, office, and school in slow and subtle ways the pollution of lakes and streams, the necessary but sometimes too extensive domination of trees and grass by brick, asphalt, and cement . . . the slow and steady adulteration by pollutant gases and smoke of the

air we breathe. This last is a process so hidden that for days on end, when wind and weather are right, we may not even be aware of it.

Having dealt with both the direct and the indirect problems of government at that level where their impact on people is most clearly evident, I can assure you that the direct problems receive the most direct attention. They are, after all, the problems that civilized communities have had to deal with throughout the entire span of recorded history. They are problems that we know best how to deal with.

But now we must enlarge our field of vision to include also the indirect problems that our modern way of life has thrust upon us. To deal properly with these, we must recognize the overriding importance, at this stage of our development as a nation, of creative and sincere cooperation among all the elements of our society. All have an important role to play in molding the outlines of the present which will determine the patterns of the future.

The first area in which cooperation is needed is among the various levels of government. As I said at the National Press Club not long ago, the primary tasks of providing adequate health, education, and welfare measures and facilities are a responsibility of the State and local governments. I added that the purpose of our Federal programs is to stimulate local initiative and, as I shall illustrate when I come, in a few moments, to needed legislation, local initiative cannot be stimulated unless local governments possess the financial and technical resources for dealing with both their immediate and their long-range problems. A government which is straining to provide enough policemen and firemen for public protection can hardly respond adequately to stimulation in the field of air pollution control which consists mainly

of vocal urgings. It needs, especially at first, enough financial and technical assistance to allow the full recognition and appraisal of long-range problems. This will demonstrate to the local public what steps they must take, and what benefits they can expect from shouldering these new responsibilities.

I feel certain in my own mind that our citizens will accept whatever responsibilities are called for— once the need has been demonstrated-to insure clean air for themselves and their children. There

is no doubt at all that citizens, properly informed, will be willing to pay for control measures which— not to mention the health hazards-cost far less than the dollar damages from polluted air.

The cooperation of industry is just as essential as cooperation among the several levels of government. While short-term objectives may differ, the long-term interests of government, of industry, and of every member of the public are virtually identical. It could not be otherwise. Because all taken together-we we are the public, and whether we work in government or in industry, or have finished our working years, we all share the same busy streets, the same water, and the same air in our great metropolitan areas. It is in the hurried pursuit of short-term gains that we sometimes lose sight of the mutual gain which comes from dealing properly with mutual long-range problems. The establishment of responsible and equitable control programs at the local level is therefore of direct advantage to the farsighted who can see the basic interdependence of private and public interests.

As mayor of Cleveland, I acquired some firsthand evidence of what can happen, to the public benefit, when industry acts in recognition of this interdependence. To mention a single example, I had the pleasure, almost exactly a year ago, of turning a switch at a great steel company in that city. A tall stack which had been pouring out clouds of red smoke ceased immediately to do so. The switch I turned put into operation a $2,500,000 precipitator which will help protect the air that is breathed by more than 2 million people of Greater Cleveland.

I should like to add in this connection that, during my whole tenure as mayor of a large industrial city, I found industry very responsive in taking steps both on its own initiative and in cooperation with the air pollution control agency-to prevent or correct conditions which pollute the atmosphere. This has often involved a very substantial capital investment, but industrial leadership recognized the

necessity for that investment. I might say to those of you who work on the local level that it pays to sit down with the industry leaders of your community and make known to them the problems which exist; if you have a workable solution to the problem, discuss it with them, and form a teama cooperative team-to combat the air pollution, rather than each other. In my opinion, neither side wins if you are constantly at loggerheads with one another.

The simple act of turning that switch I mentioned was actually the end product of a long series of complicated negotiations and a full exchange of points of view-that is to say, that constant and creative debate which is so necessary to our way of government. The industry's recognition of civic responsibility was one factor, but another of no less importance was Cleveland's air pollution control program. Not only was the local control agency able to advise the industry and evaluate its control efforts, but also, the existence of this agency provided a guarantee that those responsible for other sources of air pollution would be encouraged to face up to their civic obligations. To honor guarantees such as this, local control agencies today need to have the manpower, the technical knowledge, and the equipment to deal with a much wider range of air pollution problems than those presented by a single steel mill or, for that matter, by all of industry. They must also deal with a broad category of municipal sources, with motor vehicle emissions, and with a long list of residential and commercial sources.

Since its inception, the Federal program has devoted its full resources to providing assistance to the local and State authorities, whose jobs have grown more difficult in the last decade. Federal research on the health, the economic, and the control aspects of air pollution has provided better tools for those directly responsible for control. Federal technical assistance activities have helped many States and communities to assess their problems and determine sound remedial procedures. Likewise, Federal training and educational efforts have helped develop needed technical skills as well as a better understanding of the problem. Investigation into control techniques-from motor vehicle tailpipes to factory stacks-like most of our activities, has been of value to industry as well as to control authorities. Despite the considerable progress we have made, large numbers of people in our urban areas are not now served by adequate local control programs.

Yet this is their first line of defense, without which they cannot enjoy the full benefit of our progress in research and control.

It was in the light of this important fact that the President presented to Congress in its last session a bill designed to assist State and local governments in meeting their responsibilities.

As some of you may know, this bill placed emphasis on the responsibility of State and local governments for regulatory actions. It provided for amplification of the research, technical assistance, and training activities which have been the foundation of the Federal air pollution program since its inception. The most important new provision it contained would have authorized the Public Health Service to provide financial aid to States and local governments through grants of limited duration. Such grants would assist in the appraisal of air pollution problems, in the initiation of control measures, and in the improvement of existing programs. Grants of this type, for development and improvement of local programs, have a long history of success in public health and welfare activities.

However, in the press of time and in view of the large number of new proposals offered during the last session of Congress, this bill was not acted upon. But the same air pollution problems which faced us last year face us now, and we are no less obligated to provide the leadership which the President has called for.

Our Department is studying the proposals included in last year's bill, and we may safely assume that the Congress will conduct similar studies. You may be sure also that the most careful consideration will be given to any recommendations that may come from this conference or which may be offered by any organizations or individuals represented here.

While many of us attending this conference must give concentrated attention to the immediate and pressing problems of air pollution, I should like to

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remind you that we must occasionally raise our sights and examine the longer view as well. We must start at once on the immediate tasks before us, but we must at the same time increase our vigilance in regard to those problems of environment which those who follow us will inherit. must now and then look beneath the topmost and most glamorous layer of life in our era to observe the undesirable side effects which may accompany our progress. We must find ways to secure the benefits of change and avoid the hazards and costly penalties. In our planning we must learn to weigh the good results of our actions against the bad, and make our decisions with full awareness of both.

My experience has convinced me that we must increasingly think of our urban environment, and deal with it, as a whole-as a single unit with closely interrelated and interdependent parts. In our modern cities we cannot separate housing from health, or either from transportation, or any of these from the resources of our natural environment, such as air and water.

Certainly, with all the wonders of modern science and technology at our command, we can, if we have the will, build cities more beautiful than have ever been seen before in history. I am not talking about Eldorados of the imagination, with streets paved with gold, or milk and honey flowing from the fountains-but about cities which are real, yet still keep man in touch with the natural heritage which was his before the first city was built. Such cities would provide us with beautiful vistas, shady groves, and clear waters-and they would be inconceivable without a constant supply of fresh, clear, healthful air.

An ancient Persian poet had a word for it, or rather, 15 words, and I hope we can also some day translate these words of Omar into action. Let us try, as he said, "to grasp this sorry scheme of things entire 1. and remold it nearer to the

heart's desire."

LET'S CLEAR THE AIR

LUTHER L. TERRY

Surgeon General Public Health Service Washington, D.C.

It is a pleasure to welcome you to this national conference and to thank you for devoting 3 days of your time to the problem of air pollution. Between now and next Wednesday evening you will be called upon in plenary and panel sessions to grapple with the many diversified and complicated issues associated with air pollution. The extent to which you succeed in clarifying these complexities will determine how close we come to achieving our deceptively simple conference objective, "Let's Clear the Air."

By the end of our sessions on Wednesday we shall not have achieved a miracle. The filters of airsampling devices throughout the country will still come out in varying shades of dreary gray and deepest black. Nevertheless, if we keep sight of our objective and help clear the air of many unresolved issues that cloud the problem, a favorable change in air-sampling results will follow in due time. That, after all, is why we are here.

Air is the medium on which all human activity depends. It is not surprising, then, that the adverse effects of air pollution are many and varied. Moreover, virtually everyone is responsible to one degree or another for the problem. These are the characteristics which mark air pollution as a prime problem of the contemporary environment and account for the fact that we represent such a wide range of interests, organizations, and professional disciplines.

Many of you who are here today contributed to the remarkably successful Conference on Air Pollution held in 1958. Why then, if that conference was successful, are we holding another now? What have been our accomplishments since then? Which problems remain the same? Which are different? And what are our needs for the future?

Certainly the fundamental facts of life in a nation of advanced technology, which faced us in 1958, are still with us today. There are no signs on the horizon to suggest that man's capacity for fouling his nest has lessened. Indeed, there have been signs of an ever-growing capacity to produce-by chance or by choice-dramatic alterations in the conditions of human life. Urbanization continues; the great demands for more products, services, and energy continue; the mechanization and automation of many human activities grow.

Beneath all these manifestations of change, in fact, the very root from which they grow and flower, is an ever-increasing proliferation of scientific knowledge. It is this knowledge which enables us with an ever more subtle certainty to chart the farranging course of satellites in space and—at the other end of the scientific spectrum-to map the genes on a chromosome. Yet today, as in 1958, many of the problems of how to employ this burgeoning scientific knowledge within the context of the social, economic, and political framework of our society continue to confound us. We are SO sophisticated scientifically that men can breathe in the airless void beyond the earth's atmosphere. And yet we are so primitive that the quality of the air we breathe on the surface of the earth continues to deteriorate.

Since it is our task to help rectify such incongruities, our work is bound to be difficult. Real solutions to the problem of air pollution will require an enlargement of our vision and the serious contemplation of the other side of a lot of old coins. whose one side we have long been accustomed to. We must address ourselves to the entire problem in all of its staggering breadth and scope and not confine ourselves to its undeniably important, but