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Short-Term Exposure To Diesel Fumes Causes Changes In Gene Expression
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."
It showed that just two hours of exposure to diesel exhaust fumes led to biological changes that meant some genes were switched on while others turned off.
So, how much exposure before it happens to the rest of us? What can we do to lessen the effects? There are relevant questions.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
âoeDiesel engine exhaust is a known carcinogen that is responsible for two-thirds of the lifetime cancer risk from air pollution in our region,â Moore said. âoeThe prohibitions that come into effect in 2015 are essential to protect human health by reducing emissions of harmful diesel soot from industrial and construction machines.â
Why is this witch-hunt against diesel fuel? Why not gasoline? Can someone explain to me why the world is up in arms about diesel fuel but calmly ignoring the fact that gasoline engines produce just as much soot, but with finer (and thus more hazardous) particulates? And that they release more unburned hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, although to be fair, direct gasoline injection is erasing that particular problem. Is this just about preventing us from using biofuels?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Ultrafine particles (UFP) are probably both the least well-studied and least regulated form of air pollution (IIRC, they're somewhat tricky to reliably measure at all in an uncontrolled environment, let alone measured by a means that can be deployed for routine large-scale monitoring), and there's a small pile of studies showing that they do have health effects, though no one seems to know exactly what the mechanisms or dose-response curves are, or how the short-term effects translate into identifiable disease etiologies. For example, there are studies in both rats[0] and humans[1] consistent with the presence of UFP inhibiting the exercise-stimulated production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a neurological growth factor that is believed to play a key role in multiple psychiatric disorders and even some forms of obesity. There are other studies showing other effects; those were just the ones that particularly came to mind.
I bring this up because although modern diesel engines are far cleaner than the classic models, they are known to produce considerable amounts of UFP pollution. Gasoline engines and various other technologies (laser printers / photocopiers, various forms of precision machining...) aren't entirely innocent, either.
[0] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22867973
[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21708224
Maybe you should consider that asthma is on the rise, and that people with asthma are like the "canary in the mine shaft".
I own both [old school indirect-injected, pollution control-free] diesels and [modern, multiple heated O2 sensor] gasoline vehicles, and I also have activity-induced bronchial asthma which can also be set off by allergies, like my allergies to dogs and cats. And what I've noticed is that gasoline fumes are probably an order of magnitude more likely to kick off my asthma. Which is why I'm wondering why they're studying this with regards to diesel fumes. I want to know who's footing the bill for this bull. It's not that it's bad science, it's that the motivations are probably evil if they're not looking at gasoline, which any asshole who's been to a filling station more than twice can tell you is more volatile than diesel. Diesel clings to your hands, but you can feel gasoline in your brain.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Gasoline engines have higher levels of carbon monoxide than diesel or propane engines. You don't want your test subjects dying on you, right?
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.