Evidence

DIESEL FUEL

Diesel engines of today are the cleanest, most efficient, durable, and best performing engines yet, which is why diesel fuel has been, and remains, a staple in fuels used by industries and individual consumers worldwide. For this reason, the demand for diesel fuel is expected only to rise in the foreseeable future. Diesel engines do, however, have extremely tight tolerances regarding fuel contaminates and quality.

Fuel inherently degrades very quickly when it is transferred and stored in a contaminated system. Diesel’s entire supply line, consisting of pipelines, transport tanks, and vehicle tanks, has become a volatile environment of microbial and other contaminants which subsequently reduces fuel efficiency and increases its harmful effects on the environment, as well as the engines and vehicles that use it.

For Summary of Why the Fuel You Are Using is Contaminated and Reducing the Life of Your Fleet, click here.

OUR HEALTH

Human Influence on Climate Change may be debatable, but we know without a doubt, tail pipe emissions from diesel busses, trucks, and other vehicles are adversely effecting air quality and human health around the world. The impact on healthcare costs and especially children’s health will surprise you. A primary culprit to respiratory illness is tailpipe exhaust from DIESEL FUEL! Sadly the diesel fuel burned in almost all engines is inherently degraded . . . Emitting even more significant amounts of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxides and lead. U.S. highway vehicles are the single largest contributor to nitrogen oxide (NoX) and other harmful toxins that account for more than 22,000 deaths annually.

California study says over $200 million spent in healthcare costs as a result of exhaust. And that is in a state where diesel exhaust makes up a small portion of all vehicles. In China and India, a study shows the extra healthcare costs are over $3.5 trillion! These rising healthcare costs demonstrate the significance of the problem, but the real peril is the children.

Children are affected more than adults. Children breathe 50% more air per pound of body weight than adults do. Children are mouth breathers. That mouth breathing bypasses the upper respiratory track filtering. Children’s lungs are not fully developed and are more susceptible to inhaled particulate matter. Each school day in the United States 24 million children ride school busses. Children sitting in the school bus are exposed to 4 times more exhaust in the school bus than a child riding in a car ahead of the school bus.

The effect of this increased exposure to diesel fumes includes respiratory sickness, asthma, and increased illness due to impact on young immune systems, poor school attendance and poor school performance. Children’s immune systems are not fully developed when they are young and organs are still developing. Inhaled lead is more easily deposited into bones which can cause neurological problems and other long term problems.

The good news is that there are measures that can be taken to change things. During the Beijing Olympics in 2008 the Chinese government worked hard to reduce the emissions around the Olympics. And it was shown that in that time period respiratory illness decreased by 25% in the time immediately prior and after the Olympics.

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