Glad they finally figured this one out... Note the very careful wording, so
exhaust may be beneficial to ones health as long as you have a glass a day
with some cheese.
Interesting timing, since 16,000 truckers just lost their jobs and dont have
to worry about death from this anymore.
- Adam L. "Duncan" Beberg
http://www.mithral.com/~beberg/
beberg@mithral.com
--------
EPA: Diesel Exhaust Can Cause Cancer
Wed Sep 4, 3:29 AM ET
By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Inhaling diesel exhausts from large trucks and other
sources over time can cause cancer in humans, an Environmental Protection
Agency ( news - web sites) report concludes after a decade of study.
The EPA finding, released Tuesday, is expected to buttress the government's
push to reduce truck tailpipe emissions by requiring cleaner-burning engines
and diesel fuel with ultra-low sulfur content.
While acknowledging uncertainties about the long-term health effects of
exposure to diesel exhausts, the EPA report said studies involving both
animal tests and occupational exposure suggest strong evidence of a cancer
risk to humans.
"It is reasonable to presume that the hazard extends to environmental
exposure levels" as well, the report said. "The potential human health
effects of diesel exhausts is persuasive, even though assumptions and
uncertainties are involved."
The report mirrors conclusions made previously in documents from various
world health agencies and studies in California and is particularly
significant because the EPA is the federal agency that regulates diesel
emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Some environmentalists have raised concerns recently that the Bush
administration might try to back away from a Clinton-era regulation that
would establish tougher requirements on emissions from large trucks and a
separate rule that virtually would eliminate sulfur from diesel fuel.
EPA Administrator Christie Whitman repeatedly has promised to go ahead with
the tougher truck and diesel rules. Last month, with White House approval,
the EPA rebuffed attempts by some diesel engine manufacturers to postpone
the requirements, approving new penalties against manufacturers who fail to
meet an October deadline for making cleaner-burning truck engines.
The engine rule does not affect emissions from trucks already on the road,
although the separate regulation cutting the amount of sulfur in diesel fuel
is expected to produce pollution reductions.
The EPA's 651-page diesel health assessment did not attempt to estimate the
probability of an individual getting cancer, given certain exposure to
diesel exhaust. Such a risk assessment is commonly made by the EPA when
gauging pollution health concerns.
But in this case, the report said, "the exposure-response data are
considered too uncertain" to produce a confident quantitative estimate of
cancer risk to an individual.
Nevertheless, said the report, the "totality of evidence from human, animal
and other supporting studies" suggests that diesel exhaust "is likely to be
carcinogenic to humans by inhalation, and that this hazard applies to
environmental exposure."
The report reiterated that environmental exposure to diesel exhausts poses
short-term health problems and in the long term has been shown to be a
"chronic respiratory hazard to humans" contributing to increased asthma and
other respiratory problems. In some urban areas diesel exhausts account for
as much as a quarter of the airborne microscopic soot, the report said.
Environmentalists welcomed the study as clear evidence that pollution needs
to be curtailed not only from large trucks but also from off-road
diesel-powered vehicles. EPA spokeswoman Steffanie Bell said the agency
expects to publish a rule early next year dealing with those diesel exhaust
sources, which include farm tractors and construction equipment.
Emily Figdor of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a private
environmental organization, said: "To reduce the public's exposure to
harmful diesel emissions, the Bush administration should ... fully implement
clean air standards for diesel trucks and buses and should pass equivalent
standards for diesel construction and farm equipment."
Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the industry group Diesel Technology
Forum, said the EPA's report "focused on the past," whereas "the future is
clean diesel. Diesel trucks and buses built today are more than eight times
cleaner than just a dozen years ago."
The report acknowledged that its findings were based on emissions levels in
the mid-1990s, but said the results continued to be valid because the slow
turnover of truck engines has kept many of these vehicles on the road.