Diesel Pollution Makes Us Sick

Diesel engines emit a mixture of particles, metals and gasses including over 40 "hazardous air pollutants" as classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Air Act. Diesel pollution can trigger asthma and cause lung cancer, stroke, and heart attack, contributing to 21,000 early deaths a year. Nationally, diesel exhaust poses a cancer risk that is 3 times greater than the combined risk of all air toxics assessed by EPA. Diesel exhaust is particularly dangerous because it is emitted at ground level - just where people breathe it in¹ .