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38,000 People a Year Die Early Because of Diesel Emissions Testing Failures (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the underestimated-potential dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Diesel cars, trucks, and other vehicles in more than 10 countries around the world produce 50 percent more nitrogen oxide emissions than lab tests show, according to a new study. The extra pollution is thought to have contributed to about 38,000 premature deaths in 2015 globally. In the study, published today in Nature, researchers compared emissions from diesel tailpipes on the road with the results of lab tests for nitrogen oxides (NOx). The countries where diesel vehicles were tested are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, and the U.S., where more than 80 percent of new diesel vehicle sales occurred in 2015. The researchers found that 5 million more tons of NOx were emitted than the lab-based 9.4 million tons, according to the Associated Press. Nitrogen oxides are released into the air from motor vehicle exhaust or the burning of coal and fossil fuels, producing tiny soot particles and smog. Breathing in all this is linked to heart and lung diseases, including lung cancer, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation, which took part in the research. Governments routinely test new diesel vehicles to check whether they meet pollution limits. The problem is that these tests fail to mimic real-life driving situations, and so they underestimate actual pollution levels. The researchers estimate that the extra pollution is linked to about 38,000 premature deaths worldwide in 2015 -- mostly in the European Union, China, and India. (The U.S. saw an estimated 1,100 deaths from excess NOx.)

9 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Not too bad by Haxzaw · · Score: 3, Insightful

    38,000 out of nearly 8 billion is hardly worth worrying about.

    1. Re:Not too bad by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You're downvoted but really, that's something like 0.00005% of the population.

      More people probably drown in their bathtubs.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:Not too bad by Ichijo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      38,000 out of nearly 8 billion is hardly worth worrying about.

      I wasn't aware that there are 8 billion deaths per year globally.

      --
      Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
    3. Re:Not too bad by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 3, Insightful

      On the other hand, that's like 12 9/11's.

    4. Re:Not too bad by Pseudonym · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To put it in perspective, there are 6 million deaths per year caused by smoking.

      That's one Jewish-part-of-the-holocaust every year.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    5. Re:Not too bad by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's the number who die. The number who have poorer health but survive is many, many times that number.

      If you want to put it in purely economic terms, the knock on effect (lost productivity) is going to be pretty hefty too. Also, the only thing that stops those victims suing and getting rich is the difficulty in proving the causal link.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Re:Not to be mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This to a point. I hate to say it, but dying a few days or weeks early is not a good measurement. How many healthy people are affected by this is a better measurement. My grandmother was considered a victim of mesothelioma because she worked in a plant that made asbestos shingles, but she died at 93. We should measure the effect in years of loss of expected life rather than in just pure numbers.

  3. 41000 died by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    From dubious statistical extrapolations.

  4. A Rancid President by JimSadler · · Score: 1, Insightful

    And here we have an idiot as president that wants to encourage burning coal. Yes, soot and air pollution murder people and whether it is from diesel, gasoline or coal it is nothing more than murder. But the right wing goes even further. Once they give a person heart disease or cancer from burning coal they also don't want them to have medical care. They excuse all this nonsense as a monetary issue. But nobody counts the costs associated with heart or lung cripples and the long term disabilities that eat up the national budget. One sick person can run up millions in public expenses.