[Music] [Bryan Martin:] The inventionsof the 18th century brought industry to England. Mechanization spreadlike a rat wherever coal and coke were available. And the banners ofthis exclusive advance streamed into the skyfrom the factory chimneys and the dwelling houseswhich were built nearby. Smoke and dirt came tomean wages and wealth. And in the North, theproud saying was born-- where there's smoke,there's brass. Black towns have come tobe regarded with affection, and the enormous costs ofdirty air are overlooked. But more than 100 millionpounds is spent each year, repairing the destructioncaused by chemicals and soot. In isolated instances, theskills of great architects and the beauty offorgotten sculptures are being uncovered fromthe corrosive grime. The cost of cleaning thewest front of St. Paul's is 10,000 pounds, and toclean the whole cathedral, 150,000 pounds is needed. This is what air pollution coststhe nation every five hours. It's been estimated thatthe effect of the cleaning will last about two centuriesnow that the city of London is a clean air zone. These chimneys willnot smoke again. But the benefitsof clean air zones are spoiled by the smokefrom their neighbors. Two miles away from St. Paul's lies Suffolk, where the target here for completion of the Clean Air Program is not until 1974. Throughout the wholecountry, there's a lack of urgency about cleaning the air. Supplies of smokeless fuelsare allowed to dwindle, and government excusesare given and accepted. Meanwhile, the costs ofdirt continue to rise. Twenty-five million pounds a year on the nation's laundry. The daily drudgeryof repeated cleaning goes on, as the products of inefficient heating fall endlessly insideand outside the house. When the washingis put out to dry, it's likely to be covered insmuts before it's taken in. Recreation grounds are oftengrim places of sooty grass, especially in theindustrial North. Here the average airpollution is four times as great as in London. The drabness and thedirt of the North may be importantreasons for the movement south of younger people. The unskilled andlaboring classes, officially calledSocial Class 5, tend to live in the crowded centers of industrial towns, while professional andmanagerial classes, officially Social Class 1, live, in general, in the countryside on theoutskirts of these towns. Money buys distance. Social Class 1 live and exercise in clean air, while people of Social Class 5, in the centers of towns, breathe in dirt andchemicals continually from the moment of birth. The more physically activethey are, the more air they draw into theirlungs and the greater is the dose of poisonthey must take. Bronchitis is five times more common in Social Class 5 than in Social Class 1. Children in prams receive thefull blast of traffic fumes before any dilutioncan take place. Mothers can wash theirchildren's clothes, but they cannot wash the dirtfrom their children's lungs. [...] The dirt we breathe in flowsinto the lungs and gets lodged there permanently, making theblack lung of the townsmen on the right easilydistinguishable from the countryman's. Normal lung tissue, seendown the microscope, has a gossamer appearance. But sooner or later, this getsdestroyed by dirt, chemicals, and coughing. The air we breathe containsvery many different pollutants. Soot still comes from industrial chimneys. Also from domestic fires. Sulfur dioxide from dieselfumes, domestic smoke, and industrial smoke. Benzopyrene-- a knowncancer-producing substance-- from cigarettes, domesticfires, and diesel fumes. Carbon monoxidefrom traffic fumes. These and many other poisonoussubstances in the air pass down the bronchial tubes and cause inflammation and lungdiseases in many people. Bronchitis causes30,000 deaths a year and a loss of 27million working days. Unknown thousandsof men and women are crippled by recurringchest illnesses. [Betty Cale:] How does your bronchitis affect you? [Patient 1:] Well, it makes me so out of breath... It slows me up. [Betty Cale:] Does it curb your activities? [Patient 1:] Yes, very much so. [Betty Cale:] Have you hadto change your job because of your breathlessness? [Patient 1:] Yes. I worked as [?] It became too heavy for me. So I had to take a look at a lighter job at a laboratory where I can relax, sit down,and take things more easily. [Betty Cale:] Is this lighter job as well paying as the other? [Patient 1:] No, definitely not. [Betty Cale:] How do you get to work? [Patient 1:] By bus. [Betty Cale:] How long does it take you to walk from the bus? [Patient 1:] Well, three times than what it used to do. [Betty Cale:] Why does it take you so long? [Patient 1:] Well, 'cause you've got to stop to get, catch breath. [?] While this is going on, I look at the shop windows or looking at anything. It also...you might have peoples looking at you. Is he dotty? I saw him doing this yesterday. He stops and gots to staythere until he can properly get his breath back to set off again. [Betty Cale:] You find it embarrassing? [Patient 1:] [Inaudible] [Betty Cale:] Take a big breath, right in. Get set. Out! Fine. Ordinary breathing. This is normal breathing. In a few momentsI'm going to ask you to take a big breathin and blow it out as hard and as fast as you can. OK. Take a big breath right in. Get set. Out! Right out! There you see thenormal vital capacity and the rate atwhich he can blow it out when he makes a big effort. This is a patient whose lungshave been seriously damaged by bronchitis. In a moment, I will ask him to take a big breath in and then blow it out as hard and as fast as he can. As you will see, hecan't get very much out, and what there is is very slow. Now, take a big breath right in. Get set. Out! He can't get it outquickly because his bellows have been very badly damaged. All right, normal breathing. [Bryan Martin:] Hospitals are Crown property and exempt from the Clean Air Act. Medical apparatus becomesdamaged with dirt, often from thehospital's own chimney. In this hospital, the cost of cleaning far exceeds the cost of drugs. Many bronchitics sit athome, too breathless to work. [COUGHING] [WHEEZING] [Betty Cale:] How old are you now, Mr. Holmes? [James Holmes:] 58. [Betty Cale:] How long have you been out of work? [James Holmes:] Six years. [Betty Cale:] Do you sit like this all day? [James Holmes:] Yes. [Betty Cale:] Why doyou sit like that? [James Holmes:] It's the only way that I can breathe easy is this. [Betty Cale:] Do you have any pain? [James Holmes:] Yes. It cause pain in my elbows. [Inaudible] [Betty Cale:] Are they sore? [James Holmes:] Very sore. [Betty Cale:] Do the days seem very long to you? [James Holmes:] No, the days ain't bad. It's the nights what's long. [Betty Cale:] How long do you usually sleep? [James Holmes:] Um, about three hours. [Betty Cale:] What wakes you up? [James Holmes:] Well, I couldn't tell you [?] I'm short of breath. [Inaudible] [Betty Cale:] Can you lie flat? [James Holmes:] No, can't lie flat. [Betty Cale:] Did you have a good night last night? [James Holmes:] No. No, about an hour last night. [Betty Cale:] And then, what happened after an hour? [James Holmes:] Well [?] at 8:30 I'm back again for another hour. Sometimes I do an hour, sometimes I do with less. It all depends. On my breathing. [Betty Cale:] And you sit up here in the night as well as the day? [James Holmes:] Yes! Oh yes, yes. [Bryan Martin:] In the overcrowded conditions of small houses, young childrenbreathe in the germs that are coughed over them. [Young girl:] Once upon a time, on a cold winter's evening when the snow was falling gently from the sky and it looked like...[coughing] [Inaudible] [Holmes coughs as girl continues to read.] [Bryan Martin:] Many authorities regard clean air as a luxury to be enjoyed at some time when it's more convenient. We cannot postpone ournext breath until it's more convenient, and in the meantime the air we breathe is dirty and dangerous. Bronchitis and other lungdiseases cripple and kill. [Mr. Holmes coughs and wheezes.] People need clean air.