However, diesel vehicles are one of the few really efficient ways to transport heavy cargo. The challenge we face is how to balance our society’s need for diesel fuel (and its unfortunate side effects) and our right to be healthy. Legislators, especially in California, have come a long way in the fight for cleaner air. One of the great solutions to diesel emissions is diesel particulate filters that can be retrofitted to existing diesel burning vehicles. For instance, the Econix® DPF-A reduces PM by 85% or more!Now that science has proven that diesel exhaust is bad for us, it is important to understand the reasons. So why has so much time, effort and money been put into reducing diesel emissions? According to the California Air Resources Board, “…diesel exhaust also contains over 40 cancer-causing substances… Overall, diesel engine emissions are responsible for a majority of California’s estimated cancer risk attributable to air pollution.” [5]
Diesel Particulate Matter (PM) health effects [1]:
• 3,500 premature deaths every year
• Lung cancer
• Decreased lung function in children
• Aggravated asthma
• Increased respiratory and cardiovascular hospitalizations
In addition to these ill effects, many studies are indicating that PM may also cause blood disorders, birth defects, increase susceptibility to bacterial or viral respiratory infections, heart attacks, malignant tumors and lung damage. In addition to direct health effects, it is also the #2 contributor to global warming (just behind carbon).
If you don’t think you’re at much risk, consider the following exposure information. In the year 2000 CARB estimated that each person is exposed to about 1.8 micrograms per cubic meter [4] of PM. However this figure is only an average for California on the whole. If you live in an urban area your exposure is likely to be much higher. So what does that mean? It means that for every million people exposed, between 130 and 1500 individuals may get lung cancer from that exposure.[3]
The Smallest are Impacted the Most
Unfortunately children are at an elevated risk for PM health effects. Their smaller bodies, faster metabolisms and developing internal organs make children especially susceptible to exposures that, for an adult, may be less harmful. To add insult to injury a recent study showed that children who ride on diesel school buses (without a filter) are at an elevated risk. “The cumulative exhaust inhaled by the 40 or so kids on a self-polluting bus is comparable to, or in many cases larger than, the cumulative amount inhaled by all the other people in the South Coast Air Basin (Marshall and Behrentz, 2005).”4 The Good News: Part of the Solution
Under the current California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations lawmakers expect that over
$4 billion per year will be saved by the state because of to the eventual drop in hospitalizations, treatment of illnesses and lost workdays related to diesel PM exposure.
While the process of becoming CARB compliant can be costly to individual fleets and owner/operators, the public health and environmental benefits, coupled with the financial savings, will make cleaning up our diesel emissions more than worthwhile. We’d like to salute those owner/operators, fleets, etc. who are in the process of helping to make our world a better place by cleaning up their diesel emissions.
We are proud to be part of the solution and we applaud fleet owners, owner operators, etc. who have already started the process of lowering their impact on public health. Because of you, so many will lead healthier, longer lives.
Sources:
1 http://www.arb.ca.gov/diesel/factsheets/dieselpmfs.pdf
2 http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/ebd/chap2.asp
3 http://oehha.ca.gov/prop65/prop65_list/files/P65single091009.pdf
4 http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/diesel/dpm_health_fs.pdf
5 http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/diesel/diesel_health_effects_summary.pdf
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