Long-term exposure to particulate matter such as that in diesel exhaust increases the risk of dying from lung cancer, according to a study of half a million U.S. adults.
According to published reports, the study provides the strongest evidence yet on the dangers of pollution levels found in many cities.

The study appeared in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Assn. It involved 500,000 adults who enrolled in 1982 in an American Cancer Society survey on cancer prevention. The study looked at the participants' health records through December 1998 and compared it to annual air pollution averages where they lived.
The study is related to an earlier linking particulate pollution with lung cancer, which resulted in tighter EPA pollution regulations in 1997. That study was done on many of the same participants. Researchers say the new study doubles the follow-up time and improves efforts to control for other risk factors. Industry groups had challenged the earlier study and sued the EPA over the 1997 regulations. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld those regulations last year.
George Thurston, co-author of the study, said progress has been made on reducing the particulate matter in the air. He said the biggest sources of this pollution are coal-burning power plants in the East and Midwest, and diesel trucks and buses in the West.

More Truckinginfo.com stories on diesel particulates:
"California Names Toxic Particulates in Diesel Exhaust Compromise," 9/2/1998
"Engine Manufacturers To Pay $83.4 Million in EPA Fines," 10/28/1998
"War On Diesel: Don't Count EPA Out," 12/14/1999.
"EPA Proposes Tougher Diesel Requirements," 5/18/2000
"Companies, Teamsters Join in Diesel Exhaust Study," 4/6/2001