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More bad news about cars and carcinogens

More bad news about cars and carcinogens

Posted Oct 31st 2005 12:00PM

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According to the Indoor Air Quality Association, breathing air in your car's cabin is worse than walking down the street breathing in exhaust fumes in smoggy town. In addition to the "new car smell" that has already been heavily reported on as a possible cause of cancer, vehicle's aren't doing such a great job at filtering the car's exhaust fumes out of the air that enters the cabin. Air conditioner filters and opening your windows can help, but the organization says that prolonged exposure can cause cancer and respiratory disease.

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Doogs

Here's a far superior article on the subject: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051019/hl_nm/environment_cars_air_dc I found the following most interesting: "The biggest pollutants in indoor spaces, however, are people, said Baker. "We release gases, bacteria and fungi into the air. The more people there are in an enclosed area, the more harmful it is," he said."

October 31 2005 at 11:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joseph Willemssen

"What good does filtering bad air do if the air outside is still bad anyways?" I think the point of this particular article is that the air inside the vehicle is often more polluted than the outdoor air. "Bad drivers kill more people than dirty air in the cabin of a car." Probably true, but things like cancer, heart disease, etc, are much harder to trace back to some sort of causation (and it's usually multiple influences), so one can't really compare those well with things like vehicle accidents, homicide, etc. "How was what I said not relevant. This is a post about the possible health related dangers of driving, and I simply said that it wouldn't make a difference to me." Then you are providing counterpoint to Doogs' assertions, since he was speaking about this issue from a macro level.

October 31 2005 at 10:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

"Vehicles are the number one cause of death of people your age." Yeah, no shit. People don't learn how to drive anymore. How can you hold a driver's license without even knowing how to pump gas or drive a stick? I would say that the younger generation not knowing how to drive is a much greater safety concern than how well your car filters polluted air that you would just be stepping into anyways after you are done driving. Its not as if the idea of a designated driver is non-existant (at least at my school) in the younger generations, people just don't know what to do in a situation that requires more than pointing the front of the car in the general direction they want to go. Like Doogs said, putting things into percpective is more important. What good does filtering bad air do if the air outside is still bad anyways? Bad drivers kill more people than dirty air in the cabin of a car. How was what I said not relevant. This is a post about the possible health related dangers of driving, and I simply said that it wouldn't make a difference to me.

October 31 2005 at 10:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joseph Willemssen

"I wouldn't care if driving had just as many health consequences as smoking three packs a day (not that i care about those anyways), I would still be an auto enthusiast." That's nice, but not really relevant. Vehicles are the number one cause of death of people your age.

October 31 2005 at 9:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

I wouldn't care if driving had just as many health consequences as smoking three packs a day (not that i care about those anyways), I would still be an auto enthusiast.

October 31 2005 at 9:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joseph Willemssen

"It's not as if the A/C filter itself leads to cancer and/or lung disease, it's the stuff it lets in." Is it easier to pave the Earth or put on a pair of shoes? Know what I mean? I think individuals rightly want to know what they can personally do to reduce the risks in their lives and aren't going to wait around for the "big picture" things to get solved, when the government itself may not be working in their interest. "And that one should maintain some perspective." To maintain perspective, we would need to know what we're really talking about. Certainly cancer and car accidents are major causes of premature mortality, so without knowing the causation figures, then we don't really know the degree to which this is problematic. Certainly with people spending longer times in commutes, and in their vehicles in general, it likely isn't a trivial risk.

October 31 2005 at 8:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Doogs

"Well, I did get it and I understand it was facetious. But you're basically asserting if there's "bigger fish to fry", one shouldn't discuss, let alone concern oneself, with "smaller fish"." No. I am saying that one shouldn't sensationalize, knee-jerk, and blow out of all proportion the "smaller fish". And that one should maintain some perspective. "For example - what car is good and what is bad, looks good or doesn't, isn't exactly "big fish", wouldn't you agree? Yet look at all of us come here to discuss those trivial things." Yes, it is trivial. But we are enthusiasts, with a shared passion for this trivial thing. It's an apples and oranges argument. "Also, because society has come a long way doesn't mean we don't work to improve the problems we have today - as I stated before." I agree. Never said I didn't. "So, I have to wonder why you feel to make a stand that somehow air pollution and cancer are somehow trivial topics." Where did I say that? The issue at hand is that automotive A/C does a poor job of filtering out exhaust fumes. So...call me crazy...I happen to think we should be focusing our energies on reducing vehicle emissions and air pollution in general. It's not as if the A/C filter itself leads to cancer and/or lung disease, it's the stuff it lets in.

October 31 2005 at 7:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mike

And remember, Agent Orange can't really hurt you, either. Any claims to the contrary are just scams perpetrated by those Viet Nam-era gold-bricking GIs. Next thing you know someone will be claiming that all those depleted Uranium rounds from the Gulf War are harmful, too. My God, what will they want to ban next, leaded gasoline, PCPs, CFCs? Well, they'll have to pry that can of DDT out of my cold, dead hand.

October 31 2005 at 7:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Enthusiastic Sycophant

"With a little perspective, it is possible to see that this, in the scheme of things, is peanuts. Compared with the fears and threats we as a society used to have to live with on a regular basis (starvation, etc), poor automotive A/C filtration is a joke. And yes, compared with the myriad of threats and fears we live with on a regular basis today, it is a joke. I am not saying it is not a problem. I am not saying it does not need to be fixed...but there are bigger fish to fry." Well, I did get it and I understand it was facetious. But you're basically asserting if there's "bigger fish to fry", one shouldn't discuss, let alone concern oneself, with "smaller fish". For example - what car is good and what is bad, looks good or doesn't, isn't exactly "big fish", wouldn't you agree? Yet look at all of us come here to discuss those trivial things. Also, because society has come a long way doesn't mean we don't work to improve the problems we have today - as I stated before. So, I have to wonder why you feel to make a stand that somehow air pollution and cancer are somehow trivial topics. "Let's fix them first." That's a bit of a scarcity mentality and a false trade-off. Working on one thing doesn't necessarily exclude the ability to work on something else.

October 31 2005 at 6:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Doogs

Alas, I was being facetious. But since that seems to have escaped you, I suppose my point did as well, so I had better restate it directly. With a little perspective, it is possible to see that this, in the scheme of things, is peanuts. Compared with the fears and threats we as a society used to have to live with on a regular basis (starvation, etc), poor automotive A/C filtration is a joke. And yes, compared with the myriad of threats and fears we live with on a regular basis today, it is a joke. I am not saying it is not a problem. I am not saying it does not need to be fixed...but there are bigger fish to fry. And there are thousands of them. Let's fix them first. Let's address the air in our cities and the pollutants in our waters first. Let's get kids back outside and exercising again first. Creating a big to-do about poor filtration in automotive A/C is like creating a big to-do about rust on the railing of the Titanic. It should be tended to...but let's focus on steering clear of that iceberg first.

October 31 2005 at 5:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply