Lung Cancer in the rise with Non-Smokers

"A 2012 French study revealed that from 2000 to 2010, rates of lung cancer among never-smokers shot up an alarming 33 percent. In fact, if lung cancer in nonsmokers was its own category, it would rank among the ten deadliest cancers in the United States. This is in part because the symptoms -- coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath -- are so similar to those of common illnesses; as a result, the disease is often ignored by patients and overlooked by physicians."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/non-smokers-lung-cancer_560ab1f5e4b0768126ff2c10

"ban diesel, as 60 years ago coal was banned successfullly"

Simon Birkett, Founder and Director of Clean Air in London, said:

"Frankly, the only way to protect public health and comply fully with legal limits is to ban diesel from the "most-polluted areas.  Let’s do so positively, by encouraging positive measures such as active travel (e.g. walking and cycling) and triggering a massive shift to fewer, cleaner and greener vehicles.  By doing so, the UK can be a world leader again as it was so successfully 60 years ago after banning coal burning in cities."

http://cleanair.london/sources/defra-buries-consultation-on-diesel-ban-in-cities-minutes-before-corbyn-announcement/

VW `Clean Diesel' Scheme Exposed as Criminal Charges Weighed

VW admitted systematically cheating on U.S. air pollution tests for years, theEnvironmental Protection Agency announced Friday in citing violations that could add up to $18 billion in fines. The company said it has also heard from the Justice Department, which the EPA said could pursue criminal prosecution.

The German automaker has struggled to gain a foothold in the world’s
second-biggest car market with a strategy built in part on touting the efficiency of fun-to-drive “clean diesel” vehicles now shown to be anything but. 

“It’s a huge black eye for Volkswagen,” said Matt DeLorenzo, managing editor for news at Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, California. Consumer Reports magazine reacted by suspending its “recommended” rating of two diesel models.

Diesel versions of the popular Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat comprise more than a quarter of the brand’s sales in the U.S. and are a vital part of the company’s strategy for meeting tougher U.S. fuel economy standards going into effect in coming years. More than other carmakers, VW has chosen to focus on diesel technology instead of electrics or hybrids.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-19/vw-clean-diesel-scheme-exposed-as-u-s-weighs-criminal-charges

Top UK court forces government to cut air pollution, diesel cars might be banned

"After having a kind of renaissance during the first decade of the 2000s, diesel is now under attack again. The current generation of "clean" diesel vehicles might be much improved over the soot-machines of yore, but they are still a problem, especially when you pack a lot of them close together, as in Europe. Also, the facts as we know them have changed (like the Keynes quote: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"); We now know that diesel is more damaging to our health than we previously thought, with the World Health Organization officially recognizing it as causing cancer, and a recent study showing that it causes 6% of lung cancers in the US and UK.

No wonder then that France is offering people big incentives to swap old diesels for plug-ins and that Paris' mayor is trying to ban diesels by 2020.

The same thing might happen in the UK. Pollution levels have been over legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NOx) since 2010 in 16 different cities and regions. The country's highest court has ordered the government to take immediate action to remedy the situation:

In a unanimous ruling, a panel of five judges, headed by the court's president Lord Neuberger, ordered "that the Government must prepare and consult on new air quality plans for submission to the European Commission... no later than December 31 2015". (source)

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32512152

http://www.treehugger.com/cars/top-uk-court-forces-government-cut-air-pollution-diesel-cars-might-be-banned.html

Comment from bandiesel (inhouse) 

The BBC Article features a "Clean-Diesel"-Spin insert, claiming that Diesel has never been as clean as now... claiming that 99% of all particles are filtered now, however this is delusional propaganda since 99% is a mass based reduction and doesn't make any statement about toxicity, number and carcinogenic properties of remaining particles, which still remains 100 times more toxic than regular gasoline-car emissions. The New "Clean-Diesel" Technology is not clean nor safe, also the Soot-Trap Particle Filter emits heavy toxic fumes while "Regeneration". Industry and "Independent Experts" will try to convince you this is the "Best Available Technology" (BAT), well if this is the case, than phase out your harmful product line, that can only survive through fraudulent claims, marketing and junk science usually used by Tobacco companies. PS. this is very important, because Diesel Engine Producers, after successfully wrecking air quality in Europe, are now launching the "Clean Diesel"-Spin in the USA and China.

air pollution directly affects cognition

Air pollution and impaired lung function prove independent risk factors for cognitive decline

(...) "Our findings disprove the hypothesis that air pollution first decreases lung function and this decline, in turn, causes cognitive impairment by releasing stress signals and humoral mediators into the body," explains Mohammad Vossoughi, a PhD student at the Leibniz (Germany) Institute for Environmental Medicine, who led the study.

Mr. Vossoughi adds that the findings suggest other hypotheses about how air pollution affects cognition, including the possibility that particulate matter and other pollutants are translocated to the central nervous system via our sense of smell and that leads to mild cognitive impairment. (...)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150518121147.htm

UNEP says green transport key to boost air quality in China

'"China is a leader in the rapid switch to clean fuels and investment in speed trains," Jong noted.

Robust policies and legislation alongside infrastructure development are crucial to promote green transportation across cities in China and the developing world.

Jong stressed that a paradigm shift is an imperative to help tackle traffic congestion and the attendant air pollution in cities across China and Africa.

"It is possible to re-invent mobility in cities, if people switch from heavy use of cars to cycling and walking," Jong said.'

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/910655.shtml

Paris to ban the most polluting diesel vehicles by 2020

"Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has presented a plan to ban most diesel vehicles from the city by 2020 in order to lower air pollution.

By July, diesel buses and trucks will be banned during the daytime from entering the city but not from the ring road around Paris, Hidalgo explained Monday in a plan to members of the Paris Council. Then, she said, the measure will be gradually extended to ban diesel vehicles made before 2011—regarded as the most polluting—by 2020."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-02-paris-polluting-diesel-vehicles.html#jCp
http://phys.org/news/2015-02-paris-polluting-diesel-vehicles.html

Chai Jing's review: Under the Dome – Investigating China’s Haze