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consequences of pollution, protection of rare and vanishing plants and animals as well as a whole lot more.

The Control of Pollution Act 1974, which applies to England, Scotland and Wales, sets out a. wide range of powers and duties for

local and water authorities, including control over wastes, air and water pollution and noise, and contains important provisions on the

release of information to the public on environmental conditions.

The main risks of land pollution lie in the indiscriminate dumping of materials on land, careless disposal of pesticides and chemi-

cals, fall-out of materials from the atmosphere and the deposition of materials from flood-water. The use of sewage sludge on farms,

too, involves risks as well as benefits to the land.

The Government encourages the reclamation and recycling of waste materials wherever this is practicable and economic in order

to reduce imports and to help to conserve natural resources. Industry already makes considerable use of reclaimed waste materials

such as metals, paper and textiles. In an increasing number of areas there are "bottlebanks" where the public can deposit used glass

containers.

There has been a steady and significant improvement in water quality: the level of pollution in the tidal Thames has been reduced

to a quarter of the 1950s level and 1 0 0 different kinds of fish have been identified there. Discharges of polluting matter into rivers,

lakes, estuaries and some coastal waters are already controlled by law.

Control of marine pollution from ships is based largely on international conventions drawn up under the auspices of the Intema-

tional Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency with headquarters in London. In dealing with spillages of oil or chemicals at sea

the main treatment method is to spray dispersant from aircraft or surface vessels, and emergency cargo transfer equipment is

available to remove oil from a damaged tanker.

Considerable progress has been made towards the achievement of cleaner air and a better environment, especially in the last 20

years or so. Total emissions and average concentration of smoke in the air have fallen by 80 per cent. London no longer has the

dense smoke-laden "smogs" of the 1950s and in central London winter sunshine has been increasing since the 1940s when average

hours a day were about 40 per cent less than at Kew in outer London; the levels are now virtually the same.

Transport is one of the main offenders in noise pollution, and control measures are aimed at reducing noise at source, through

requirements limiting the noise that aircraft and motor vehicles may make, and by protecting people from its effects.

In Britain radiation resulting from industrial and other processes represents only a small fraction of that to which the population is

exposed from the natural environment. Nevertheless, that fraction is subject to stringent control because of possible effects on health

or longer-term genetic effects.