Before the 1970s, no organization was responsible for public hazard prevention and environmental protection. For example, in the United States, air pollution control belongs to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, water pollution control belongs to the Ministry of the Interior, and soil protection belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Ministry of the Interior. Therefore, there is no package of environmental protection policies, only "treating the headache and treating the foot pain". In Britain, the environmental protection system is more decentralized. The Ministry of Housing and Local Administration manages the implementation of the Air Pollution Control Law, the Alkali-making Procuratorate manages the exhaust emissions of specific industrial sectors, and the River Affairs Bureau manages river sewage. Although the former Soviet Union was a centrally planned economy country, there was no unified environmental protection organization for a long time. The Ministry of Health only formulates environmental hygiene standards and regulations, while the Academy of Sciences is more engaged in the investigation of environmental pollution. The State Science and Technology Commission only plays the role of planning and coordination, and the departments of agriculture, forestry and fisheries are also responsible for the management of water resources, land erosion and forest protection. In Japan, the prevention and control of public hazards and environmental protection are scattered in the cabinet provinces. Because this kind of prevention and control system is scattered and has no real power, coupled with the unclear authority of various departments, inconsistent policies and decrees, divergent opinions and wrangling with each other, environmental protection work often has little effect.
To this end, around the 1970s, governments around the world established a unified and centralized public hazard prevention and control system. 1969, the United States established the presidential advisory body "Environmental Quality Committee", which is responsible for making recommendations to the President on environmental policies. 1970 "Environmental Protection Agency" was established, directly under the federal government.
1990, Riley, the newly appointed director of the Environmental Protection Bureau, instructed the Advisory Committee on Science and Technology of Environmental Protection to use the most advanced scientific methods to evaluate the harm of various public hazards to national life and ecology. After a year's research, the Scientific Research Council published a famous report "Analysis of Pollution Hazard". The report pointed out that the pollution endangering national health mainly includes air pollution, toxic chemicals exposure, indoor pollution (passive smoking, solvents, pesticides, formaldehyde) and drinking water pollution (lead, chloroform, pathogenic microorganisms, etc. ); The environmental problems that affect the ecological balance and are harmful mainly include the destruction of animal and plant habitats, extinction, species reduction, ozone depletion, global warming, etc. The public hazards that are less harmful to ecology and national health are agricultural pesticides and herbicides, polluted surface water and toxic floating dust in the air; The public hazards that are less harmful to ecology and national health are oil leakage, groundwater pollution, radiation pollution, acid rain and heat pollution. The report further pointed out that in order to solve these environmental problems, the United States must establish a unified environmental protection system.
197 1 year, Japan centralized the functions of prevention and control of public hazards and environmental protection scattered in various provinces, formally established the "National Environment Agency" under the direct leadership of the Prime Minister as an organ for unified management of the environment, and set up corresponding specialized agencies in local and grass-roots enterprises. The State Environmental Administration publishes environmental white papers every year to guide the national environmental protection work and make suggestions for world environmental problems.
1970, Britain established the Ministry of Environment and the Royal Environmental Pollution Committee. Members of the latter participate in their personal capacity for a term of at least three years. The Committee has the right to consult documents and even visit on-site facilities. In recent years, they have submitted 15 reports, most of which have had an impact on national policies. For example, after the report on lead in 1983 was put forward, the lead content of gasoline decreased and unleaded gasoline was used.