Donora Killer Smog

Environmental Health Topics

"On Oct. 26, 1948, the small steel town of Donora, Pa., was blanketed by a thick, toxic smog. Within a week, some 20 people had died. Nothing was done to clean up the zinc mill responsible, however, just as little was done in 1952, when a 'killer smog' in London caused at least 2,800 deaths in one week."
— Amanda Paulson, Christian Science Monitor

"Major federal clean air laws became a legacy of this environmental disaster that focused national attention on air pollution. In late October of 1948, a heavy fog blanketed this valley, and as the days passed, the fog became a thick, acrid smog that left about 20 people dead and thousands ill. Not until October 31 did the Donora Zinc Works shut down its furnaces — just hours before rain finally dispersed the smog."
— From the plaque erected by Justin Shawley in Donora, PA

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Unveiling a Museum, a Pennsylvania Town Remembers the Smog That Killed 20
"The Donora smog gained national attention and helped lead to some of the first local and state pollution control laws, and, eventually, the 1970 federal Clean Air Act. “We want people to realize Donora was a big part of the environmental movement,” said Don Pavelko, a Donora councilman who came up with idea for the museum." Read more

The Heavy Air of Donora, PA
"The 50 people who died in the month following the smog are nowhere counted. The thousands who died over the following decade are nowhere counted. And there is no counting of the thousands whom Clarence Mills called the "nonkilled" -- all those who went on to suffer in various poorly understood ways." Read more