While the link between lung cancer and a lifetime of breathing diesel fumes has been known for years, recent research links the particulate components of diesel exhaust to cardiovascular and respiratory harms over much shorter time frames, such as a single day. The following is a summary of selected findings:

• Lung Cancer. Diesel exhaust is a probable carcinogen based on occupational health studies of truckers and railroad workers.1Lipsett, M., Campleman, S., (1999). Occupational exposure to diesel exhaust and lung cancer: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Public Health v. 89, no 7, p. 1009-1017. Diesel particulate matter is recognized as such by U.S. EPA, the State of California and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).2EPA, Health Assessment Document for Diesel Exhaust: Office of Research and Development, EPA/600/8-90057F May 2002. P. 9-14; , 3California Air Resources Board (1998): Resolution 98-35—Identification of diesel exhaust as a toxic air contam-inant., 4International Agency on Cancer, Monograph 46. Gaseous and particulate compounds found in diesel exhaust, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and formaldehyde, are also carcinogens.
• Cardiovascular death. Two of the largest long term air pollution studies ever conducted (one tracking one million people in 150 cities over 16 years) found a strong association between exposure to fine particles—a major component of diesel exhaust—with an elevated risk of premature cardiac death.5See, e.g., Pope, C.A., Thun, M.J., Namboordiri, M.M. and Dockery, D.W., et al.; Particulate Air Pollution as a Predictor of Mortality in a Prospective Study of U.S. Adults. 151 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (1995).
  Krewski, D., Burnett, R.T., Goldberg, M.S., Hoover, K., Siemiatycki, J., Jerrett, M., Abrahamowicz, A. and White, W.H., Reanalysis of the Harvard Six Cities Study and the American Cancer Society Study of Particulate Matter and Mortality; Special Report to the Health Effects Institute, Cambridge, MA (July 2000). A four-year study of 65,000 women in 36 cities found that those living in cities with higher levels of particle pollution are at greater risk of death from cardiovascular causes. The risk varied within cities suggesting the importance of localized pollution sources.6Miller, K., Siscovik, D., Sheppard, L., Shepherd, K., Sullivan, J., Anderson, G. and Kaufman, J. (2007). Long-term exposure to air pollution and incidence of cardiovascular events in women. New England Journal of Medicine, v. 356, No. 5, p. 447-458, February 1, 2007., 7Dockery, D., and Stone, P. (2007) Cardiovascular risks from fine particulate air pollution. Editorial, New England Journal of Medicine, v. 356, no 5, p. 511-513, February 1, 2007.
• Stroke. Diesel exhaust particles may increase the risk of stroke.8Nemmar, A., Hoet, P., Dinsdale, D.,Vermylen, J., Hoylaerts,M., and Nemery, B., Diesel Exhaust Particles in Lung Acutely Enhance Experimental Peripheral Thrombosis, Circulation. Vol. 107, (2003), pp.1202-1208.
• Asthma, respiratory infections and allergic symptoms. Multiple studies link diesel particles to asthma and allergic sensitization.9Brown, J., and Frew, A. (2002). Diesel exhaust particles and respiratory allergy. European Respiratory Mon. v. 21, p.180-192. , 10Brauer, M et al. (2002). Air pollution from traffic and the development of respiratory infections and asthmatic and allergic symptoms in children. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 166, p. 1092-1098. An East Bronx, New York, study suggests children exposed to higher levels of truck exhaust have higher incidences of asthma.11Pandya, R., Solomon, G., Kinner, A., and Balmes, J. (2002). Diesel exhaust and asthma: hypotheses and molecular mechanisms. Environmental Health Perspectives, v. 110, supplement 1, p. 103-112. In a California study, asthma and bronchitis were found to be seven percent higher among children attending school in high-traffic areas, compared with a neighborhood with quieter streets.12Kim, J., Smorodinsky, S., Lipsett, M., Singer, B., Hodgson, A., and Ostro, B. (2004). Traffic-related Air Pollution near Busy Roads The East Bay Children’s Respiratory Health Study. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, vol 170, p. 520-526.
• Reduced lung function growth. In a cohort of 3677 children tracked for 8 years, those living within 500 meters of a California freeway had deficits in lung volume growth.13Gauderman, W.J., McConnell, R., Gilliland, F., London, S., Thomas, D., Avol, E., Vora, H., Berhane, K., Rappaport, E., Lurmann, F., Margolis, H.G., and Peters, J. 2000. Association between air pollution and lung function growth in Southern California children. American Journal of Res-piratory and Critical Care Medicine, vol. 162, no. 4, pp. 18., 14Gauderman, J., Vora, H., McConnell, R., Berhane, K., Gilliland, F., Thomas, D., Lurmann, F., Avol, E., Kunzli, N., Jerrett, M., and Peters, J. (2007). Effect of exposure to traffic on lung development from 10-18 years of age: a cohort study. The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 26 January 2007.
• Slowed fetal growth as a result of maternal exposure during pregnancy.15Dejmek, J., Selevan, S., Benes, I., Solansku, I., and Sram, R. (1999). Fetal growth and maternal exposure to particulate matter during pregnancy; Environmental Health Perspectives, v. 107, no. 6.
• Infant mortality.16Woodruff, T., Grillo, J. and Schoendorf, K. 1997. The re-lationship between selected causes of postneonatal infant mortality and particulate air pollution in the United States. Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 105, 608-612., 17Kaiser, R., Romieu, I., Medina, S., Schwartz, J., Krzyzanowski, M., and Kunzli, N. (2004). Air pollution attributable postneonatal infant mortality in U.S. metropolitan areas: a risk assessment study. Environmental Health, A Global Access Science Source v. 3, no. 4.
• DNA damage.18Upadhyay, D., Panduri V., Ghio A, Kamp DW. (2003) Particulate matter induces alveolar epithelial cell DNA damage and apoptosis: role of free radicals and the mitochondria. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2003 Aug; 29(2):180-7. Epub 2003 Feb 21.

• Asthma symptoms and asthma attacks in children.19Norris, G, YoungPong, S., Koenig, J., Larson, T., Sheppard, L., and Stout, J. (1999). An association between fine particles and asthma emergency department visits for children in Seattle. Environmental Health Perspectives, v. 107, no. 6., 20Gielen, M., van der Zeee, S., Winjen, J., van Steen, C., and Brunkreef, B. (1997). Acute effects of summer air pollution on respiratory health of asthmatic children. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 155, p. 2105-2108., 21Yu, O., Sheppard, L., Lumley, T., Koenig, J., and Shapiro, G. (2000). Effects of ambient air pollution on symptoms of asthma in Seattle-area children enrolled in the CAMP study. Environmental Health Perspectives, v. 108, no. 12, p. 1209-1214.
• Increased susceptibility to allergy.22Finkelman, F, Yang, M., Orekhova, T., Clyne, E., Bernstein, J., Whitekus, M, Diaz-Sanchez, D., and Morris, S. (2004) Diesel Exhaust Particles Suppress In Vivo IFN-y Production by Inhibiting Cytokine Effects on NK and NKT Cells. Journal of Immunology. V. 172, no. 6, p. 3803-3813., 23Brown, J. and Frew, A. (2002) Diesel exhaust particles and respiratory allergy. Eur Respir Mon, 2002, 21, 180–192.
• Premature death, based on a 90-city study associating daily particle exposures with premature death.24See e.g., Samet, J.M., Dominici, F., Zeger, S.L., Schwartz, J. and Dockery, D.W.; National Morbidity, Mortality and Air Pollution Study, Part II: Morbidity, Mortality and Air Pollution in the United States; Health Effects Institute Research Report No. 94, Cambridge MA (June 2000).
  Dockery, D.W., Pope, C.A., Xu, S. and Spengler, J.D., et al; An Association Between Air Pollution and Mortality in Six U.S. Cities; 329 New England J. Medicine 1753-59 (1993).
• Increased circulatory and cardiovascular risk for diabetics based on 24 hour exposures to particles.25O’Neill, M., Veves, A., Zanobetti,A., Sarnat, J., Gold, D., Econ-omides, P., Horton, E., and Schwartz, J. (2005). Diabetes Enhances Vulnerability to Particulate Air Pollution–Associated Impairment in Vascular Reactivity and Endothelial Function. Circulation, Jun 2005; 111: 2913 -2920.
• Nervous system impairment based on a study of railroad workers exposed to diesel exhaust, which concluded: "crews may be unable to operate trains safely."26Kilburn, K.H. (2000). Effects of diesel exhaust on neurobehavioral and pulmonary functions. Archives of Environmental Health, v. 55, no. 1, p. 11-17.
• Increased allergies, with increased sensitization caused by diesel exhaust exposures.27Sydbom, A., Blomberg, A., Parnia, S., Stenfors, N., Sandström, T., and Dahlén, S-E. (2001) Health effects of diesel exhaust emissions. Eur. Respir. J.;17: 733-746.
• Infant mortality.28Loomis, D., Castillejos, M., Gold, D., McDonnell, W. Borja-Aburto, V. 1999. Air pollution and infant mortality in Mexico City. Epidemiology, vol. 10, p. 118-123.

• Irritation of nose and eyes, respiratory/lung function changes, cough, headache, fatigue and nausea.
• Pulmonary inflammation found after one hour of exposure to diesel exhaust.29Salvi, S., Blomberg, A., Rudell, B., Kelly, F. Sandstrom, T., Holgate, S. and Frew, A. (1999). Acute inflammatory responses in the airways and peripheral blood after short-term exposure to diesel exhaust in healthy human volunteers. American Jour. Resp. Crit. Care Medicine, v. 159, 702-709.
• Increased risk of pulmonary inflammation to asthmatics after two hours of exposure.30Stenfors, N., Nordenhäll, C., Salvi, S., Mudway, I., Söderberg, M., Blomberg, A., Helleday, R., Levin, J., Holgate, S., Kelly, F., Frew, A., and Sandström, T. (2004). Different airway inflammatory responses in asthmatic and healthy humans exposed to diesel. Eur. Respir. J., Jan 2004; 23: 82-86.
• Adverse cardiovascular effects. Changes in heart rate variability, heartbeat and blood indices were recorded in North Carolina Highway troopers exposed to elevated in-vehicle particulate matter during midnight to 9 AM shifts.31Riediker, M., Cascia, W., Griggs, T., Herbst, M.m Bromberg, P., Neas, L., Williams, R., and Devlin, R. (2004). Particulate matter exposure in cars is associated with cardiovascular effects in healthy young men. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 169, p. 934-940.
• Doubled risk of death due to stroke. Risk increased by a factor greater than two within two hours of exposure to high levels of fine particles in a Japanese study.32Yamazaki, S, Nitta, H., Ono, M., Green, J., Fukuhara, S. (2006) Intracerebral hemmorrage associated with hourly concentration of ambient particulate matter: case-cross-over analysis. Journal of Occupational and Environment-al Medicine September 2006 online. Also see Reuters news report Thurs Sept 21, 2006, “Brief exposure to dirty air may raise stroke risk.”
• Suppressed defense mechanisms and increased susceptibility to lung bacterial infection for a week after exposure. Rats exposed to diesel exhaust for four hours per day for five days experienced prolonged growth of bacteria in the lung during exposure.33Yin, X,, Dong, C., Ma, J., Antonini, J., Roberts, J. Barger, M., and Ma, J. (2005). Sustained Effect of Inhaled Diesel Exhaust Particles on T-Lymphocyte–Mediated Immune Responses Against Listeria monocytogenes. Toxicological Sciences, v. 88. no.1, 73-81.