No Breathing In The Aisles: Diesel Exhaust Inside School Buses

Publication Date: January 2001

Publisher: Natural Resources Defense Council; Coalition for Clean Air

Author(s): Gail Ruderman Feuer; Julie Masters; Todd R. Campbell; Gina M. Solomon

Research Area: Environment

Type: Report

Abstract:

It's a common occurrence to see and smell a black cloud of smoke rising from behind a diesel school bus. We expect that inhaling these fumes outside the bus would be dangerous for our health and it is. But does that same diesel exhaust pose a risk to children sitting inside the bus on their way to and from school? We initiated this study of diesel exhaust levels inside school buses to answer this question in light of the overwhelming evidence that diesel exhaust causes cancer and premature death and exacerbates asthma and other respiratory illnesses.