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Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science, University of Southampton

70 years on from the killer smog: what clean air laws teach us about power, pollution and profit

Pollution United States Hugh Beaver London United Kingdom Natural Disaster
MagicBones/Shutterstock

Seventy years ago, London choked. For five days in December 1952, a toxic smog smothered the city. Visibility collapsed. Transport failed. Thousands died. It was not a natural disaster. It was the product of policy failure.

Out of that catastrophe came one of the most important environmental laws in UK history: the Clean Air Act 1956. It was a turning point. It showed that science, when taken seriously, can transform public health.

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