Diesel Exhaust

Diesel engines power commerce and transportation around the world, but the exhaust they produce can prove deadly. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday that it now classifies diesel exhaust as a cause of cancer. While major advances in technology have helped clean up some diesel pollution in the United States, the findings could have serious implications for developing countries still relying on dirty diesel power. Following a week-long meeting of experts, the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded there was sufficient evidence that diesel exhaust can cause lung cancer , and noted it may also increase the risk of bladder cancer.

A chemical analysis of air samples taken from California's San Joaquin Valley and an Oakland traffic tunnel show that diesel fuel emissions are more polluting than previously thought, according to researchers. The study , which appeared Monday in the journal PNAS, focuses on a specific form of pollutant known as secondary organic aerosol, or SOA. The pollutant is a major element of smog and can contribute to heart and respiratory problems. The study authors examined air samples taken in Bakersfield and Oakland's Caldecott Tunnel during a 2010 air quality field study conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the California Air Resources Board.

Re "Diesel Exhaust Found to Pose Strong Cancer Risk," April 23: It's amazing that the astounding discovery of findings by a group of scientists stated that emissions from diesel-fueled buses, trucks, etc. cause cancer and other diseases and are generally depicted to cause extremely unhealthy conditions. Frankly, anyone living in the Los Angeles Basin would only take about 10 seconds to make the same discovery after sitting behind one of these vehicles on the road. It is appalling that our lawmakers allow the air to be poisoned by these vehicles.

Diesel engines power commerce and transportation around the world, but the exhaust they produce can prove deadly. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday that it now classifies diesel exhaust as a cause of cancer. While major advances in technology have helped clean up some diesel pollution in the United States, the findings could have serious implications for developing countries still relying on dirty diesel power. Following a week-long meeting of experts, the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded there was sufficient evidence that diesel exhaust can cause lung cancer , and noted it may also increase the risk of bladder cancer.

The world's most prestigious cancer research group on Tuesday classified diesel engine exhaust as carcinogenic to humans and concluded that exposure is associated with increased risk of lung cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer - part of the World Health Organization - made the announcement at a meeting in France, finding, in part, “that diesel exhaust is a cause of lung cancer, and also noted a positive association with an increased risk of bladder cancer.

Expanding its role into new territory, the Southland's air pollution agency is crafting a sweeping strategy to reduce the health threat people face from breathing diesel exhaust and other carcinogenic chemicals polluting the air. The ambitious plan, already under attack by the trucking industry, could lead to the nation's first comprehensive regulations for battling airborne toxic substances.

Wielding electron plasma beams that he helped develop for the Defense Department's "Star Wars" program, USC physics professor Martin Gundersen has homed in on a more earthly target--diesel exhaust. To develop a high-tech tailpipe that zaps pollutants from exhaust, Gundersen, 57, has joined forces with a former Russian scientist, Victor Puchkarev, who worked during the Cold War on a rival system designed to down U.S. missiles. Both scientists insist that they see no irony in their new alliance.

Capping nearly a decade of debate, a state panel of scientists Wednesday decided that diesel exhaust poses a serious cancer danger and urged state environmental officials to take steps to protect public health. The implications of the long-awaited decision are great, not only in terms of people's health, but also the economy.

Emissions from old diesel engines cause more than 20,000 Americans a year to die sooner than they would have otherwise, an environmental group estimated Tuesday. An industry group criticized the findings as outdated and misleading. The metropolitan areas with the highest number of early deaths from diesel engines were New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force, a coalition of regional and local groups.

Two children a day on average are brought to Buena Park's tiny Eve Medical Center suffering from asthma, their throats closing up as they struggle to breathe. Pinpointing the cause is difficult, but the ceaseless rumble of diesel trucks out front provides a potential clue. The clinic, whose clients are primarily immigrant Latinos, is directly across the street from an Albertson's grocery distribution warehouse. Up to 1,200 trucks a day make deliveries or pick-ups to the warehouse.

The world's most prestigious cancer research group on Tuesday classified diesel engine exhaust as carcinogenic to humans and concluded that exposure is associated with increased risk of lung cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer - part of the World Health Organization - made the announcement at a meeting in France, finding, in part, “that diesel exhaust is a cause of lung cancer, and also noted a positive association with an increased risk of bladder cancer.

It's easy to see how air pollution would affect respiratory disease: You breathe in smog-filled miasma all day and the ozone, other noxious gases and small particulate matter therein can make you wheeze and cough. Pollutants can trigger asthma attacks and bronchitis in susceptible individuals. But it's harder at first blush to understand links to other conditions. In two studies reported last week, bad air was associated with higher rates of appendicitis and ear infections. The new reports have been met with surprise because neither health problem seems obviously linked with the airway or bloodstream.

Two decades ago, Rosa Vielmas, young and hopeful, moved to Riverside County for cleaner air. Goodbye to smoggy East Los Angeles. Hello to Mira Loma, an unincorporated speck of a village, and a one-story stucco bungalow with a yard. "We could see the stars," she recalled. But that was before Mira Loma became one of Southern California's "diesel death zones," as activists call the truck-choked freeways and distribution hubs that fan out from the massive ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

IF YOU'RE ANYWHERE NEAR a construction site, try not to breathe. The 112,000 tractors, excavators, backhoes and other construction machines in California are the state's second-largest source of diesel pollution, killing an estimated 1,100 people a year and sickening many thousands more. It's a big problem, and requires an ambitious solution.

Re "2 ports aim to slash diesel exhaust," April 14 My family and I were happy to read about the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports working together to propose an unprecedented plan to cut diesel truck emissions at the port complex. It's about time. We all know how dangerous diesel emissions are, and the port complex is the largest fixed source of these emissions in California. It angers me when industry and business groups use the same old fear tactics of "the additional fees will drive up prices for the consumer" or "businesses will move elsewhere."

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's busiest seaport complex, are proposing an "unprecedented" overhaul of dockside trucking that officials say would slash diesel pollution from trucks by 80% in five years while improving domestic security and working conditions for drivers.

Diesel exhaust is one of the most damaging pollutants affecting children in California, according to an advisory panel of some of the state's top scientists. The prestigious Scientific Review Panel on Friday gave preliminary approval to a list of five toxic air pollutants that the state believes most damage people from conception to adolescence. In addition to diesel exhaust, the list includes lead, acrolein, dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Lending federal weight to a controversy already rolling down California's freeways, the Clinton administration has quietly issued a draft report linking diesel exhaust to lung cancer and other respiratory ailments. A state report due later this month is expected to recommend that the exhaust be listed as a carcinogen. Taken together, the two studies would add fuel to the debate over whether emissions from trucks, buses, diesel-powered cars and locomotives should be further reduced.

Emissions from old diesel engines cause more than 20,000 Americans a year to die sooner than they would have otherwise, an environmental group estimated Tuesday. An industry group criticized the findings as outdated and misleading. The metropolitan areas with the highest number of early deaths from diesel engines were New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force, a coalition of regional and local groups.

Gov. Gray Davis and two other Western state governors announced on Monday a campaign to fight sooty diesel exhaust and emissions linked to global warming. The announcement by the chief executives of California, Oregon and Washington was hailed by conservationists as an important alliance they hope will lead to better environmental quality.