Diesel Danger

How School Bus Emissions Are Harmful to Children

By Suzy Feine

Each day, more than 600,000 school buses transport 24 million children to and from school. The majority of these buses are fueled by diesel. Diesel engines emit more than 40 known carcinogens, including arsenic, benzene and formaldehyde, which are considered toxic by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) EPA.

Studies have concluded that individuals are at risk of heart and lung disease, asthma and cancer when exposed to increased amounts of diesel exhaust. In fact, federal regulators have determined that 125,000 cancers are attributed to diesel exhaust. Those suffering from asthma, emphysema and bronchitis are at greater risk.

Add to this the facts that children breathe 50 percent more air per pound of body weight than do adults and there is no known safe level of exposure to diesel exhaust, and you have a serious problem that deserves immediate and national attention.

The problem itself is simple. If buses are allowed to idle for extended periods of time while children board and exit buses, increased levels of toxins fill the air that children breathe. If a school's air intake vents are in close proximity to the bus-loading zone, the vents will bring diesel exhaust into the school. Additionally, if buses park end to end and engines are left idling while children are loading and unloading, diesel exhaust is brought into the bus. If windows on the bus remain closed, the exhaust is trapped in the bus where children breathe these toxic fumes.

However, the solution to this problem is ever more simple.

Concern is growing across the United States as parents become aware of this potentially dangerous situation at their local schools. Yale University's study on children's exposure to air pollution, especially diesel emissions, conducted by John Wargo, professor of environmental risk analysis and policy, is bringing awareness front and center. Wargo's book, Our Children's Toxic Legacy: How Science and Law Fail to Protect Us From Pesticides

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