Fog may sound like a simple natural phenomenon for everyone under normal conditions, but we can say that it had such a catastrophic effect in London that year, in fact, it was a bit man-made.
The source of the fog was mainly air pollution, and it was factories in London that created this pollution. Of course, that wasn’t the main factor; In London that year, the weather was far below normal. In other words, due to these cold weather, factories and power plants consumed a lot of coal to provide their production. As you can see, the fact that factories caused air pollution was so that people could continue to live. Let’s look at the rest of the story together.
The biggest contributor to the lethal smog was coal policy, which caused air pollution.
The coal policy implemented in the UK in 1952 was based on a profit-oriented approach. In other words, high-quality coals were exported, and the people of the city used low-quality coal. Thus, air pollution occurred as the sulfur dioxide released when the coals of poor quality were burned, were chemically converted into sulfuric acid.
Here, the detail that ignited the fuse of the main event was that there was no wind at that time, and thus, because the polluted air did not spread into the atmosphere, it was stuck in its environment. On top of that, electric trams were phased out at that time, and people started using diesel-powered buses. Afterwards, the entire city was suddenly covered in a deadly fog.
The consequences of this event were not heartwarming at all, because even if he survived, people suffered from numerous health problems.
When this life-destroying fog finally came to an end with the winds blowing from London towards the North Sea, the wreckage it left behind was very serious. The British Ministry of Health stated that the number of applicants due to respiratory diseases increased during this period.
In fact, 6,000 deaths caused by different lung diseases such as bronchitis and respiratory tract infections were recorded by the ministry. Research after the event mentions that this number has risen to 12,000. We can say that the event was one of the most prominent events of its period in every sense.
In fact, due to this event, the Clean Air Law, which was prepared in 1956, was defined to reduce air pollution and included various measures. The law became primary legislation in 1968 that limited air pollution from commercial and industrial causes as well as sand, dust and smoke from various fires. Unfortunately, the precaution was taken after the incident broke out, and even though many people were harmed, we can still say that it was the beginning of a good development for environmentalism.
Sources: Flashbak, The Evolution Tree, Britannica
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