Podcast: Night of the Killer Smog

In the Centennial episode of Third Pod from the Sun, Dr. Devra Davis recounts the effects of the Donora and London smog events and describes why they were so deadly.

A Pennsylvania native who grew up in the town of Donora, Devra shares her memories of living in the polluted town and how the deadly smog affected her family. She also describes the research she conducted on the London smog event and how her work showed the death toll from the disaster was much higher than the British government reported. Finally, Devra recounts how these two tragedies served as catalysts for enacting the first clean air laws in the United States and abroad.

Read more about the Donora smog even in Devra’s book, When Smoke Ran Like Water.

This episode was produced by Lauren Lipuma and mixed by Robyn Murray and Jon Schriner.

—Lauren Lipuma (@Tenacious_She), Contributing Writer