The Boston-based Clean Air Task Force released a report this week that said more than 20,000 Americans die prematurely each year from breathing toxic diesel fumes

, despite federal standards for new diesel engines. The press release referred to a just-released study called “Diesel and Health in America: The Lingering Threat.”
“The non-profit CATF researched and developed the Diesel and Health in America report over the past year using EPA’s own scientific methodology,” the press release said. “The report estimates that thousands of deaths could be avoided each year if federal and state authorities would take aggressive action to clean up existing sources of diesel soot – including buses, trucks, ships, and construction and farm equipment.”
On its web site at www.catf.us, CATF links to a map that depicts the geographic impact of diesel fumes. Newspapers around the nation in their Wednesday editions used that resource to run localized stories based on the CATF release.
In its story, the Atlanta Constitution quoted Allen Schaeffer, executive director of Diesel Technology Forum. Schaeffer criticized the CATF report as "a conglomeration of other facts and studies and assumptions." The health impacts, for example, are based 6-year-old data that don't take into account diesel improvements that have already taken effect, he said.