Meuse Valley, Belgium

The Great Smog of London in 1952 was not an isolated incident. Other such reducing-type killer smogs have occurred in Meuse Valley, Belgium (1930), Donora, Pennsylvania (1948), and again in London (1962). The death toll blamed on the air pollution in these cases was not as high. 

Three of the most acutely health-threatening episodes of air pollution in the twentieth century were associated with high-pressure areas. These notorious episodes occurred in the Meuse Valley, Belgium, December 1-5, 1930 in Donora, Pennsylvania, October 25-31, 1948 and in London, United Kingdom, December 5-9,1952. In these cases, strong atmospheric inversions associated with anticyclones helped trap pollutants such as SO2, resulting in increased air pollutant concentrations. These elevated concentrations caused elevated rates of illness and mortality (Wilson and Spengler, 1996). 

The hazard of episodes of high air pollution was recognized in the first half of this century, when episodes of extreme air pollution were associated with increased deaths and morbidity in the Meuse Valley, Belgium, in 1934 (8) and in Donora, Pennsylvania, in 1947 (9). However, it was the air pollution episodes of December 1952 in London that provided the first quantitative air pollution exposure data and the most convincing evidence of the hazard. 

During the period December 1-5, 1930, an intense fog occupied the heavily industrialized Meuse Valley between Liege and Huy (about 24 km) in eastern Belgium (1). Several hundred persons had respiratory attacks primarily beginning on the 4th and 63 persons died on the 4th and 5th after a few hours of sickness. On December 6 the fog dissipated the respiratory difficulties improved and, in general, rapidly ceased. 

Certain areas are unusually susceptible to air pollution disasters. One during 1930, in the Meuse Valley of Belgium, caused the premature death of over 60 people. Another in 1948 at Donora, Pa., caused 20 deaths. A third resulted in the deaths of 22 people at Poza Rica, Mexico. The greatest occurred Dec. 5-9, 1952, in London, England. Over 4,000 people are estimated to have died from respiratory ailments as a result of the smog. Each of these occurred in an industrial valley at the time of a temperature inversion.16... 

A particularly interesting prediction was made by Firket (1936). It was based on a devastating smog episode that occurred December 1-5, 1930, along the Meuse Valley in Belgium (Table 1.1). On examining the combination of emissions and meteorological conditions that led to 63 excess deaths, as well as several hundred people with severe respiratory problems, he commented that ... 

Significant and, on occasion, disastrous adverse health effects have accompanied acute air pollution episodes involving reducing-type pollutants. In the middle of this century, meteorologic inversion conditions resulted in high levels of particulate matter and sulfur dioxide in the Meuse Valley in Belgium,... 

At noon Friday, the superintendant of the zinc works made a regular check of the dispersion of smoke from its stack and saw no reason to bank the plant s ovens. At lunch, though, one of the plant s managers was reminded of what had happened in the Meuse valley of Belgium in December 1930. Five days of smoky fog in an industrial valley had killed more than 60 people and made hundreds gravely ill. The comparison was well chosen. In the Meuse, as in Donora, illness struck mostly the elderly, with asthma-like symptoms aggravated by cardiovascular difficulties. And in both instances, the population laid immediate blame on the zinc factories.4... 

The earliest reports of acute environmental incidents were of air pollution emergencies. In the Meuse Valley of Belgium during 1930, 63 persons died and thousands became ill from sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid air pollution (French 1989). The Donora, Pennsylvania, smog disaster in 1948 left 20 dead and more than 5,000 ill (French 1989). 

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