{"id":3712,"date":"2008-10-10T14:16:35","date_gmt":"2008-10-10T20:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3712"},"modified":"2017-08-28T12:01:05","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T16:01:05","slug":"environmental-defense-fund-ask-dr-john-school-bus-pollution-and-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/environmental-defense-fund-ask-dr-john-school-bus-pollution-and-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Defense Fund: ‘Ask Dr. John’ – School Bus Pollution and Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Children<\/a>Every day, half a million school buses safely carry 24 million American children to school, field trips and athletic events.<\/em><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, most buses are powered by diesel engines that actually pollute the air inside the bus. Studies show the pollution gets trapped inside the bus, where kids breathe it in. <\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. John Balbus, EDF’s chief health scientist<\/a>, answers common questions about school bus pollution and your child’s health. <\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 I don’t see billowing clouds of black smoke behind the school bus. Does that mean the bus exhaust is clean?<\/h3>\n

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Even clean-looking exhaust from tailpipes, and from the engine itself, can contain small particles and other toxic pollutants that can get inside the school bus, and in children’s lungs.<\/p>\n

Q: How does diesel pollution get inside a school bus?<\/h3>\n

Diesel pollution can enter a school bus from both the tailpipe and the engine. In school buses, the engine is in the front, right near the door, so every time the door opens, engine and tailpipe exhaust get sucked inside.<\/p>\n

Exhaust can also seep into the bus through open windows and even through the floorboards. Because of this, air quality inside the bus can be five times worse than outside air<\/strong>. Even if your child spends a short amount of time on a school bus, he or she may be breathing in high levels of harmful air pollutants that make up diesel exhaust.<\/p>\n

Q: What are the pollutants in diesel exhaust?<\/h3>\n

Diesel exhaust contains more than 40 toxic substances, smog-forming emissions, particulate pollution (sometimes called “soot”), unburned hydrocarbons and other harmful byproducts \u2014 many of which are known cancer-causing agents.<\/p>\n

Particulate pollution is a mix of soot, smoke and tiny particles formed in the atmosphere from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides (also a key ingredient of smog) and ammonia. Sooty particles are most dangerous when very small as they are easily inhaled and damage lungs.<\/p>\n

Q. How does breathing in diesel exhaust harm children?<\/h3>\n

Exposure to diesel exhaust can have serious health effects. Children can suffer worsening of asthma and other respiratory symptoms, and may be at greater risk of developing asthma, especially when exposed very early in life. One recent study suggests that diesel soot can affect children’s brain function.<\/p>\n

Children are at particular risk compared to adults because their lungs are still developing and because they breathe in much more air for their body weight. Breathing in pollution during childhood can result in irreversible damage as children develop.<\/p>\n

Adults are also affected by diesel exposures. In addition to worsening asthma and other lung conditions, diesel exhaust can contribute to chronic heart disease and acute heart attacks as well as lung cancer. While there are no studies showing effects on the cardiovascular system in children, exposures during childhood may have a long-term impact on the health of blood vessels and the heart.<\/p>\n

Q. If the air inside a school bus is unhealthy, should I drive my child to school instead?<\/h3>\n

The safest way to get to school is by bus. Going in a car increases the risk of an accident or other safety hazard. Every day half a million school buses carry 24 million children to school, field trips and athletic events.<\/p>\n

While school buses are still the safest way to transport kids, diesel buses can be cleaner and healthier. If your child’s bus is an older, more polluting model that has not been retrofitted with a filter and your child’s school is within walking distance with access to safe sidewalks and bike lanes, you might encourage your child to walk or bicycle to school. Your child will get the added benefit of healthy exercise.<\/p>\n

Q. My child has asthma \u2014 should I be particularly worried about the diesel exhaust on school buses?<\/h3>\n

Asthma and other respiratory problems are a particular cause for concern for children who ride older, polluting school buses. If the bus is your child’s only option for getting to school, talk with school officials and the bus company providing service about cutting back the time your child spends on the bus.<\/p>\n

For example, the route might be adjusted so your child is the last to be picked up in the morning and the first to be dropped off after school.<\/p>\n

Or arrange alternate ways for your child to get to school, such as carpooling or walking, on some days.<\/p>\n

Q. Would having my child wear a surgical mask help filter out dangerous pollution and soot?<\/h3>\n

No, a surgical mask will not help. Besides being difficult to fit properly, a mask will only block out large particles, and your nose and mouth do that anyway. A surgical mask cannot filter out the ultrafine particles that are the most dangerous, nor the other toxic gases and chemicals in diesel exhaust.<\/p>\n

Q. How can I make sure the bus my child rides to school is clean?<\/h3>\n

Check with your local school district and city officials to find out the age of its bus fleets and if they have been retrofitted with a filter to trap 85 percent of soot pollutants.\u00a0 Unless your child’s school bus has been retrofitted or your child is riding on a brand new school bus (2007 or later model), your child is most likely breathing in unhealthy levels of pollution.<\/p>\n

Pollution increases with the age of the school bus. For example, bus engines built before 1990 are allowed to emit 60 times more soot (particulate matter) than bus engines built in 2007. New buses meeting 2007 federal emission standards are much cleaner than older buses for both soot and nitrogen oxides emissions.<\/p>\n