Air pollution in Canada--current status report.

Abstract

AIR POLLUTION problems have been multiplying steadily in Canada with the growth of population and industry. Many of these problems are typically urban in character as they are related to the activities of the general population in the consumption of fuels for heating, power and transportation, and specific emissions of pollutants from industry concentrated in the urban environment. However, there are other complex aspects not related to the concentration or distribution of population but rather to the operations of certain heavy industries that result in waste products that are uneconomical or technically difficult to recover or control. The discharge of relatively large quantities of such contaminants to the atmosphere has been accompanied, in certain instances, by injury to farm crops, ornamental plants, forests, and soils. Other effects include economic damage from the accelerated corrosion and deterioration of metals, materials of construction, paints, textiles, rubber, and many other products. Although the preceding aspects of air pollution may be assessed readily by direct chemical and biological studies or economic surveys, the effects on human or animal health are much more subtle and difficult to determine. Canada has, fortunately, escaped major, acute episodes resulting in deaths and illness, such as those that have been reported in the Meuse Valley (Belgium), Donora, Pa., or London, England. Nevertheless, minor effects involving eye and skin irritation and odors have been experienced in a number of Canadian communities. It is natural to infer that pollution trends in Canada, as in other countries, are influenced by the growth and distribution of population and industry. Most of the population of Canada is concentrated in urban and industrial communities as a result of the rapid increases in industrialization and in population growth that have taken place since the end of the Second' World War. The population attained a level of over 18 million during 1961 compared with approximately 11.5 million in 1941 and 14 million in 1951. About twice as many people now live in urban instead of rural areas. Coincident with these population changes, there has occurred a tremendous expansion in mining and manufacturing industries so that Canada now ranks sixth in manufacturing output and fourth in total trade value of commerce among the nations of the world.