Diesel linked to truckers' deaths

The odds of dying from heart disease are nearly 50 percent higher for
truck drivers than the general U.S. population, and diesel exhaust is a
likely culprit, according to a new Harvard University study of
importance to transportation-heavy California.

The findings are part of the largest and most comprehensive study yet
conducted on the effects of diesel engine emissions on trucking
industry workers nationwide, from long-haul drivers to office clerks,
engine mechanics and dockworkers exposed to exhaust in the yard. Harvard Medical School researchers said they examined the jobs and
medical histories of more than 54,000 male Teamsters union members who
had worked for one of four national trucking companies from 1985
through 2000.
The findings are important not only for transportation workers but also
for people who commute in heavy diesel-fueled traffic or who live or
work near truck terminals, ports and railroad yards, said Cynthia
Garcia, a state air pollution scientist. more here