Diesel engines have a few very significant advantages over gasoline-powered engines, including the fact that they provide more torque, deliver better fuel economy and they run on diesel fuel, which is considerably cheaper than gasoline, but they have also been thought to cause serious health concerns. For years, there has been a widespread opinion that exposure to diesel exhaust increases the risk of lung cancer, in addition to other health issues, which has been supported by numerous studies conducted by prominent health experts. That is why the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced tougher emission standards for diesel engines a couple of years ago. This has prompted automakers to develop cleaner engines, and now, a new study shows that emissions from the latest generation diesel engines pose no major health hazards.
The Health Effects Institute, an independent, non-profit organization focused on research on the health effects of air pollution based in Boston, published a report that says that there is no association between modern diesel engines and lung cancer. The report is based on the findings of the Advanced Collaborative Emissions Study, according to which, new technologies employed in diesel engines have helped those diesel engines meet the strict EPA standards that came into effect in 2007.
After these standards were introduced, automakers started using diesel particulate filters and ultra-low-sulfur diesel, which resulted in a 90-percent reduction of emissions of particulate matters from modern heavy duty diesel-powered trucks, compared to older diesel engines. The researchers came up with this result after exposing laboratory rats 80 hours a week over the course of 30 months to emissions from diesel-powered engines that are usually employed in trucks and buses.
They found that exposure to new technology diesel exhaust (NTDE) causes neither carcinogenic lung tumors, nor pre-cancerous changes or other health issues. The results from the study will be of great help to the EPA when creating emission standards in the future, and will likely lead to development of even cleaner and better diesel engines.
“We are already seeing a transition in America’s roads with over 30% of the trucks and buses in use today meeting these new standards and the trend is growing in Europe as well. These results confirm the great strides that government and industry have made to reduce diesel risk – and argue for even greater efforts to accelerate the replacement of older diesel engines,” said Dan Greenbaum, president of the Health Effects Institute.
However, while stricter EPA diesel emission standards have resulted in cleaner engines and reduced air pollution, they have increased operating costs of owner-operators and companies with small fleets, as they are mandated to install new equipment and invest in more sophisticated diesel engines. According to some independent estimates, these EPA standards add over $20,000 to the cost of a new truck, which presents a major financial burden for the smaller trucking companies.