Vehicle fumes as bad for you as Smoking!

I saw on the BBC last week a segment on the news about Diesel fumes. (sorry..I do not have a link yet...)

They took a sample of normal, healthy, non-smoking peeps and made them run on a treadmill and breath in prepared air.

In this air was diluted diesel smoke at the same concentration as you would get in a town/city environment.

They found that just a few minutes in this air was as bad for your lungs as having a cigarette.

It frustrates me...you get all the do-gooder, busy-bodies telling me where I can and can't smoke...then they get in their nice big cars and drive off, polluting MY air feeling good about themselves.

Incidentaly..I don't drive and don't plan too. So I tell you what, do-gooder non-smokers...I will stop smoking in my pub when you stop driving your 4x4's.......

And coversely I read an article a while back that said one cigarette produced more particulate pollutant's then a car idling for 30 minutes did in a closed building. I don't doubt that Car Emissions are bad, but some of the emissions that Cigarettes let loose would make you ill just reading about it. One of the largest reasons I quit actually. I don't drive either.

[edit on 28-8-2005 by sardion2000]

Originally posted by sardion2000
And coversely I read an article a while back that said one cigarette produced more particulate pollutant's then a car idling for 30 minutes did in a closed building. I don't doubt that Car Emissions are bad, but some of the emissions that Cigarettes let loose would make you ill just reading about it. One of the largest reasons I quit actually. I don't drive either.

[edit on 28-8-2005 by sardion2000]

Indeed. I have just come across that very article myself.

So much conflicting info out there.

But there are plenty of links on Google citing all the bad health/cancer causing issues of diesel fumes.

Type in "diesel fumes smoking" to google and the first ten hits all contradict each other.

Some say fags are worse than cars, others vice versa.

What we can be sure of is that both are bad and blaming one solely for health problems when it is apparent the other is also just as or more responsible is a little lopsided.

I would hazard a guess, taking into account the constant nature of air pollution compared to smoking (outside it ciggarettes wont affect a non-smoker ate all whilst cars get you everywhere) that there are far more health issues caused from air polltuion from vehicles than those caused by smoking.

Some say fags are worse than cars, others vice versa.

You should change fag to something else, I know what it means in the UK but in N. America it's something else completely. Just to clear any potential confusion.

I realize there is allot of conflicting information, and that is primarily due to the inaccuracy of allot of our monitoring devices but they are getting better.

would hazard a guess, taking into account the constant nature of air pollution compared to smoking (outside it ciggarettes wont affect a non-smoker ate all whilst cars get you everywhere) that there are far more health issues caused from air polltuion from vehicles than those caused by smoking.

Well consider how many people smoke and try to find out the average amount they consume per day then add it up. It may turn out to be a siginifant portion of air pollution as funny as it sounds. Particulate pollution is by definition the hardest to detect. We are getting better at it though. Expect more conflicting reports for the near future, but one thing is for sure we do deserve clean air and the hypocrits aren't helping anyone.

So does this mean I should stop sucking on my tail pipe when I'm bored? I use a filter, so they're Toyota Exaust Lights...

Originally posted by junglejake
So does this mean I should stop sucking on my tail pipe when I'm bored? I use a filter, so they're Toyota Exaust Lights...

Might be a wise idea.......... i on the other hand will continue to smoke my fags (I know of the other meaning of the word, but I like this word)

Especially if you speak to foreign folk:

Me : "Excuse me, mate, can I bum a fag?"

"erm........." Mr Foreigner replies, whilst walking away quickly then breaking into a run......

Originally posted by stumason
Incidentaly..I don't drive and don't plan too. So I tell you what, do-gooder non-smokers...I will stop smoking in my pub when you stop driving your 4x4's.......

(Hey, if you can repost, so can I... )

And that's fine.

But what about us non-smokers who don't drive or wear offensive perfumes?

We're getting it in the nostrils from both parties.

Not every non-smoker is a gas-guzzling soccer Mom with nothing better to do than drive her Hummer (who I'm sure is better at giving them than driving them anyway) the 300 yards to school and back.

Well, Tinkle, you're just going to have to put various plastic things on your stove to get your fix.

Originally posted by junglejake
Well, Tinkle, you're just going to have to put various plastic things on your stove to get your fix.

Is that a euphemism, Jakey?

I'm not sure whether I should blush, or run away

I suppose I could terrorise my neighbourhood with my addiction to Nutella.

Though I've never known it to hurt anyone, really...unless you aim really, really well...

[edit on 28-8-2005 by Tinkleflower]

Originally posted by Tinkleflower

Originally posted by junglejake
Well, Tinkle, you're just going to have to put various plastic things on your stove to get your fix.

Is that a euphemism, Jakey?

hehe If it was, it wasn't intentional, just thinking of some other rather dangerous fume you could suck down since you don't do smokey treats or perfume.

If you do Nutella, though, there's ways to harm folks around you. Just spread it all over your hand and wipe it off so there's no gobs of it on there, then stand in front of an allergy clinic and greet everyone coming in, shaking their hand

I like the way a clean diesel engine smells. Diesel Fuel too, much better than gasoline. I wish hemp based bio-diesel was on the market because I am sure many others would too.

Diesel can be made as clean if not cleaner than gasoline(spark plugs) engines. The thing with diesels is the compression is so high that they can still run off dirty fuel, even smoke. Ocean freighters burn bunker oil. While cheap it is extremly dirty, full of sulfur, and has to be preheated so it will be a liquid before it can be used. We should be glad no automobiles burn that stuff.

Originally posted by junglejake
If you do Nutella, though, there's ways to harm folks around you. Just spread it all over your hand and wipe it off so there's no gobs of it on there, then stand in front of an allergy clinic and greet everyone coming in, shaking their hand

Oh...Jake...you're good. I mean you are good.

I hadn't even thought of that one!

Now if that darn Buddhist thing I got going didn't prevent me from wanting to harm others, we'd be onto something

/end threadhijackwithmanyapologiesforfrivolity

Originally posted by stumason
They found that just a few minutes in this air was as bad for your lungs as having a cigarette.

Personally I believe it's much worse. I used to smoke 16mg.. but it was actually smog that would trigger asthma. I would go into the city centre where you can actually SEE the brown in the air, I'd come home and for the next week I'd have breathing difficulties. I assumed that because I was smoking such strong cigarettes that is was just compounding it.. however when I went for holidays in Tasmania [cleanest air in the world] the cigarettes were suddenly too strong in comparison to this pristine air that I had to start smoking 6mg and was smoking alot less in number [never thought I'd do that]. The air was so clean that it was like my lungs had taste buds.
The wake up call wasn't that though.. it was flying back to Melbourne and not being able to breath when I got outside again. The air was that thick that I had to force it down.. the same type of feeling you get when trying to breath in a sauna/steamroom. I've been back since and am now on 1mg [almost there]. I am not trivialising the effects of smoking but I believe it's been used as a scapegoat for cancers in general.
"He got cancer and yet never smoked? must've been passive smoking then.."

POLUTION CAUSES CANCER.

The world economy primarily relies on fossil fuels so they're not about to come out and say "Cars and industry are going to kill you."

[Haven't even started on the pesticides, growth hormones, preservatives, radio waves, microwaves etc etc]

[edit on 29-8-2005 by riley]