Diesel Exhausts Bring New Meaning to Cancer Sticks, Report Shows; Sitting in Traffic Could be Nearly as Hazardous as Smoking

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 3 -- Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture) today joined Physicians for Social Responsibility and the American Lung Association of Pennsylvania in praising PennEnvironment's new study, "Dangers of Diesel: How Diesel Soot and Other Air Toxics Increase Americans' Risk of Cancer."

"This report brings a new dimension to the term `cancer sticks,' which is what we used to call cigarettes," said Charles McPhedran, attorney for PennFuture. "Today's `cancer sticks' are the exhaust pipes on the back of diesel-powered trucks, buses and construction vehicles, and they make just sitting in traffic hazardous to your health.

"We must protect our children from a lifetime of exposure to toxic pollution in diesel exhaust," continued McPhedran. "Just as our governments acted against the scourge of cigarettes, it is time for action to protect us from these cancer machines.

"In particular, the Bush administration must set tough standards to reduce emissions from non-road diesel engines, like those in bulldozers, forklifts, and tractors," said McPhedran. "Because the current standards are so weak, these engines contribute most of the added cancer risk from diesel pollution in Pennsylvania."

The report released today is one in a series of reports, including studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators (STAPPA) and the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials (ALAPCO), that reach the same conclusion: diesel exhaust is dangerous to human health. Today's report is available on the web at: www.pennenvironment.org

PennFuture, which has offices in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, is a statewide public interest membership organization that advances policies to protect and improve the state's environment and economy. PennFuture's activities include litigating cases before regulatory bodies and in local, state and federal courts, advocating and advancing legislative action on a state and federal level, public education and assisting citizens in public advocacy.