Study Linking Cancer and Diesel Exhaust, Suppressed for Decades by Industry Lawsuits, Finally Published

Anyone who rides a bicycle or walks in the city, whether commuting or for exercise, knows the questions: are the health benefits outweighed by sucking the fumes of the autos sharing the street? Are urban dwellers and people living close to major transportation thoroughfares at risk?

But a different question lurks behind the suppression of a decades-old study on diesel exhaust and cancer: Are workplaces taking adequate measures to protect employees exposed to diesel exhaust on their jobs?


Diesel-Cancer Link Long Suspected
Concern about lung cancers caused by diesel exhaust is old (not news). The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies diesel engine exhausts as "probably carcinogenic to humans," the middle classification between known human carcinogens and possible human carcinogens. The listing of "diesel engine exhaust" as known to the State of California to cause cancer (pdf) since 1 October 1990.

As early as 1988, government agencies began considering regulation of worker exposure to diesel particulates, especially in the mining industry where operation of diesel machinery in the confined spaces underground results in some of the highest exposures. The existing data was challenged.

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