Unregulated School Bus Diesel Exhaust Endangers Children's Health

Interview with Nancy Alderman president of Environment and Human Health, conducted by Melinda Tuhus.

In early September, the Environmental Protection Agency declared that long-term exposure to diesel exhaust can cause cancer. Rules passed under the Clinton administration requiring trucks to use low-sulfur fuel are due to go into effect in 2006. But that ruling does not affect buses.

Last year, before the EPA decision was announced, a public health advocacy group in Connecticut studied the impact of diesel exhaust on school children who ride diesel-fueled buses. Fifteen adults wearing badges or other measurement devices accompanied 15 schoolchildren throughout the day to get accurate readings on their exposure. They found that children were sometimes exposed to airborne particulates five to 15 times higher than background levels. Nearly 600,000 school buses transport 24 million students to school every day in the U.S. Collectively, American children spend three billion hours on school buses each year.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Nancy Alderman, president of Environment and Human Health, the group that conducted the study. Its report, issued in February of this year, made several recommendations for reducing the health risks children take when riding on a school bus.

Contact the Environment and Human Health by visiting their Web site at www.ehhi.org
*
66.175.55.251/
*
"Between the Lines," WPKN 89.5 FM's weekly radio news magazine can be
heard Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. ET; Wednesdays at 8 a.m. ET and Saturdays
at 2 p.m. ET (Wednesday's show airs at 7:30 a.m. ET during fundraising
months of April and October)
*
Between The Lines is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a CD, "News &
Views That Corporate Media Exclude". See BTL's website for promotional
announcement at:

66.175.55.251/
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Q&A," which features a
weekly "Between The Lines" interview excerpt, write btlsummary-subscribe (at) topica.email-publisher.com
*
betweenthelines (at) snet.net
*
©2002 Between The Lines. All Rights Reserved.
**