By Dr. Kizito Lubano
Kenyans are increasingly turning to diesel for their cars and domestic or industrial generators.
This is because the price of diesel has remained relatively cheaper than petrol. And with the slash made by the budget statement read by Finance minister Njeru Githae last week, it was set to reduce by three shillings.
However, studies reveal that this cheaper option is turning expensive, as it is now confirmed that exhaust fumes from diesel engines can cause cancer.
In an announcement that caused consternation among car and truck makers, the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is a part of World Health Organisation (WHO), reclassified diesel exhausts from its Group Two A of probable carcinogens to Group One of substances that have definite links to cancer.
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Diesel engine exhaust fumes can cause cancer in humans and belong in the same potentially deadly category as asbestos, arsenic and mustard gas, WHO experts revealed last week.
“The experts found that diesel exhaust causes lung cancer and is also linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer,” IARC said in a statement.
It is thought that people working in at-risk industries have about a 40 per cent increased risk of developing lung cancer.
Christopher Portier, chairman of the IARC working group, said the group’s unanimous conclusion was that diesel engine exhaust causes lung cancer in humans.
“Given the additional health impacts from diesel particulates, exposure to this mixture of chemicals should be reduced worldwide,” he advised in a statement.
IARC based the findings on research in high-risk workers such as miners, railway workers and truck drivers.
Diesel exhausts are now in the same group as carcinogens, ranging from wood chippings to plutonium and sunlight to alcohol.
The decision is a result of a week-long meeting of independent experts who assessed the latest scientific evidence on the cancer-causing potential of diesel and gasoline exhausts.
The decision puts diesel fumes in the same risk category as a number of other noxious substances including asbestos, arsenic, mustard gas, alcohol and tobacco.
Kenyan situation
Diesel has gained popularity in the country especially with public service vehicles because it’s less expensive.
Trucks also prefer diesel-powered engines as a way of lowering costs.
The same scene is witnessed in western Europe.
However, outside Europe and India, diesel engines are mainly confined to commercial vehicles — mostly because of the fuel’s greater efficiency.
German carmakers are trying to raise awareness in the US where the long distances travelled on highways suit diesel engines.
IARC noted that large populations globally are exposed to diesel exhaust in everyday life, whether through their jobs or in ambient air.
“People are exposed not only to motor vehicle exhausts but also to fumes from other diesel engines, including power generators,” it said.
IARC’s director Christopher Wild said the findings send a strong signal that public health action is warranted.
“This emphasis is needed globally, including among the more vulnerable populations in developing countries where new technology and protective measures may otherwise take many years to be adopted,” he said in a statement.
Deisel has cleaned up
For about 20 years, diesel engine exhaust was defined by IARC as probably carcinogenic to humans — Group Two A. But an IARC advisory group has repeatedly recommended diesel engine exhaust as a high priority for re-evaluation since 1998.
The global auto industry had argued diesel fumes should be given a less high-risk rating to reflect tighter emissions standards.
Reacting to the decision, Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Washington-based Diesel Technology Forum, said diesel engine, equipment makers, fuel refiners and emissions control technology makers, have invested billions of dollars in research into technologies and strategies to reduce emissions.
“New technology diesel engines, which use ultra-low sulphur diesel fuel, advanced engines and emissions control systems, are near zero emissions for nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and particulate matter,” Schaeffer said in a statement.
Based on the findings, IARC proposes that gasoline exhaust fumes be classified as probably carcinogenic to humans, a finding that was unchanged from its previous assessment in 1989.
