Report Says Diesel Exhaust "PROBABLY" Causes Cancer

msnbc.com ^

[Retired Chemist]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 — Diesel exhausts from large trucks and other sources probably cause lung cancer, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded Tuesday in a report that buttresses a push to reduce truck emissions through stricter requirements for cleaner diesel fuel.

[Retired Chemist]

The government is making too many decisions base on probably!

[r9etb]

I can see how diesel exhaust may aggravate respiratory disorders, and even increase the cancer risk to some extent.

But I notice that this MSNBC report carefully avoids stating any numbers -- which leads me to believe that the actual risk factor may be pretty small.

Fun with numbers, apparently.

[Reeses]

report carefully avoids stating any numbers

A touchey problem is that the political left are city dwellers who invest heavily in diesel buses which obviously operate in close contact with people. This has class action lawsuit potential that could bankrupt the liberal establishment. They do have most laywers and judges to protect them though.

[grobdriver]

Diesel exhausts from large trucks and other sources probably cause lung cancer, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded Tuesday in a report

More junk science absent peer review.

[hunyb]

This Just in.........."Breathing probably causes cancer".......

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Of course. These decisions are for a population that is too stupid to care about - let alone understand - confidence intervals or standard deviations. This population babbles glibly about special rights for -2 s.d. individuals and still denies the existance of >+2 s.d. people. Imagine the conversation between a 0 s.d. and a +4.

Read UncleAl. You may not agree with anything but it's fun to read. That's unlike most drivel from the media.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

No. I drive a Y2K VW NewBeetle TDI and my wife drives a 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI.

Up the driveway from me is a '78-ish Rabbit diesel with ~450 thousand miles on the odometer.

[Gabz]

This is absolutely ridiculous. Everyone knows that only cigarette smoking and exposure to a whiff of tobacco smoke causes cancer. The EPA told us so. /sarcasm

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Yes, and then everyone ignored the WHO contradiction.

The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Everyone knows that left-wing politics causes cancer.

[goodieD]

(fill in the blank) causes cancer... according to "scientists", pretty much everything causes cancer...
Sure, if you expose rats to 10,000 times the normal rate of whatever...it will cause cancer. If you feed rats 10 bags of M&Ms every day for 20 years, they will develop cancer.. All we've learned from decades of junk science is.. Lab rats are 20 times more likely to develop cancer.

[ozone1]

"More junk science absent peer review."

BINGO!
It's time for Bush to clean up the EPA.

[Gabz]

It's time for Bush to clean up the EPA.

It's time for the EPA to become history.

[Paradox]

This just in, cellular mitosis causes cancer. Update at 11..

[MosesKnows]

I can see how diesel exhaust may aggravate respiratory disorders, and even increase the cancer risk to some extent.

Could you explain how it is that you can see how this is possible? I cannot see how diesel exhaust, which is made up of heavy particulate matter that falls to the ground rather than entering the air that people breathe, can cause harm to people.

[r9etb]

which is made up of heavy particulate matter that falls to the ground rather than entering the air that people breathe, can cause harm to people.

It doesn't just stick to the ground, of course. It gets picked up and blown around by breezes and the wakes of passing cars. And, of course, the particulates can and do float in the air for quite a long time before they actually settle (as anyone who's watched truck exhaust can easily verify).

IOW, it'd be very easy to breathe this stuff in, and for people who are predisposed to lung problems it could aggravate their condition to some degree.

But the real question, as I noted earlier, is the risk factor associated with diesel exhaust. I suspect it's pretty small: first, because the story didn't mention it; and second, because the evidence (if any) is clearly not obvious to the casual observer.

[Mr. K]

"The potential human health effects of diesel exhausts is persuasive, even though assumptions and uncertainties are involved.”

In other words: I can't even contruct a grammatically correct sentence, and I am TELLING you it is full of assumptions and uncertainties, but I want you to believe me when I say diesel is bad for you "

"the potential [...] effects [...] is persuasive" ????

[SheLion]

Diesel exhausts from large trucks and other sources probably cause lung cancer, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded Tuesday in a report that buttresses a push to reduce truck emissions through stricter requirements for cleaner diesel fuel.

My gosh! You mean something else causes lung cancer besides SMOKING? OH MY GOD WHAT A BREAK-THOUGH!! heh!

(Gabz, sorry I haven't been online. Had phone unhooked because we are having terrible lightening and I don't want to fry my MODEM again!)