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Short-Term Exposure To Diesel Fumes Causes Changes In Gene Expression

Posted by Soulskill on from the knowing-when-to-hold-your-breath dept.

BarbaraHudson writes: The Vancouver Sun is reporting on experiments using human volunteers showing that just two hours of exposure to diesel exhaust fumes led to biological changes; some genes were switched on while others turned off. The air quality during the diesel fume exposures is said to be comparable to a Beijing highway or shipping ports in British Columbia. The next step is for researchers to study how changes in gene expression from air pollution affect the human body over the long term, since the study shows genes may be vulnerable to pollution without producing any obvious or immediate symptoms of ill health."

4 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. No control experiment by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let's try two hours of exposure to Slashdot and see what sorts of gene expression changes are detected.

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    1. Re:No control experiment by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's kinda a dumb study. Expose asthmatics to diesel fumes. Something happens at the gene level. What did they expect? Midoclorians?

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      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  2. Well duh! by smooth+wombat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hopefully all those morons who are ""rollin coal" will be sterile so they can't pass on their defective genes to another generation.

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    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  3. We already know something about long-term exposure by PapayaSF · · Score: 3, Funny

    We already know something about long-term exposure, based on observing career truck drivers: diesel fumes don't cause weight loss.

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    Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot