Children's Exposure to Diesel Exhaust on School Buses
In the United States, nearly 600,000 school buses transport 24 million students to school daily. Each year, buses travel 4.3 billion miles as children take nearly 10 billion school bus rides. In Connecticut, 387,000 students ride to school each day on 6,100 buses. Most U.S. school buses are powered by diesel fuel. Diesel exhaust is comprised of very fine particles of carbon and a mixture of toxic gases. Federal agencies have classified diesel exhaust as a probable human carcinogen. Benzene, an important component of the fuel and exhaust, identified as a known human carcinogen. The study, Children's Exposure to Diesel Exhaust on School Buses, concludes that the laws intended to control air pollution in the U.S. must be strengthened to protect the health of children.