Diesel fumes linked to illnesses

DIESEL exhaust fumes have been linked to a range of illnesses and long term health conditions from heart disease to diabetes.

The fumes are a complex mixture of gases and fine particles containing contaminants including microscopic particles less than one-fifth the thickness of a human hair and small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream.

Over a long period of the time, exposure to the fumes can raise the risk of potentially deadly blood clots and increase the risk of stroke by narrowing the arteries that carry blood to the brain.

Exposure to diesel fumes can even increase a mother's chance of giving birth to a child with autism as well as affecting the growth of the unborn baby, according to recent studies.

In 2012 the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended reducing exposure to diesel exhaust fumes. A panel of experts said exhaust fumes from diesel engines caused cancer, and may also be the cause of tumours in the bladder.

Five years earlier a large scale study in California found traffic fumes from motorways - with diesel the prime suspect - could seriously impair the lung development of children while another study in the same US state showed diesel fumes reacted with cholesterol to clog up arteries.

Research on the busy western end of Oxford Street in London, the first of its kind, showed that diesel fumes from taxis and buses had a harmful impact on asthma sufferers.

The following year research published in Italy showed that traffic fumes over a long period of time could dramatically raise the risk of potentially deadly blood clots, with higher levels of exposure to tiny pollutant particles in the air - most abundant in exhaust fumes of diesel vehicles - upping the chances of suffering a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or blood clots in the legs.

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh in 2011 found that minuscule particles produced by burning diesel could increase the chance of blood clots forming in arteries, leading to heart attacks or stroke.

Last year, a research study found the chance of contracting lung cancer rose with greater exposure to the particles generated by diesel exhausts which are known to lodge in the lungs.

Living near a busy road and increased levels of pollution from cars and lorries could also significantly raised the risk of insulin resistance in 10-year-olds, a recognised precursor to Type 2 diabetes, scientists found.

For every defined rise in levels of nitrogen dioxide and sooty particulate matter from diesel exhausts, the risk of insulin resistance increased by 17% and 19% respectively.

The scientific findings come as driving a diesel car has been encouraged by successive governments as diesel cars were thought to contribute less to global warming through superior fuel efficiency.

The number of diesel cars on the road - nearly 11 million - was at a record high last year, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, making up 34% of the total from just 12% at the turn of the century.

In the first five months of this year diesel made up nearly half of all new car sales compared to 14% in 2000.

By Martha Linden, Press Association