LOS ANGELES — A new study that links trucking work to cancer has been released by researchers at the University of Berkeley and Harvard.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the study looked at over 30,000 transport industry workers and found that truckers regularly exposed to diesel exhaust, such as idling in traffic on highways or city streets, have a higher risk than other workers of developing lung cancer.

The study also found that the risk rises considerably among workers or drivers involved in short-haul operations or working on loading docks or ports.

Long-haul drivers were at lower risk, most because, the authors believe, they’re constantly moving and have their windows closed.
The study looks at workers’ exposure histories and health outcomes between 1985 and 2000. There were 4,306 deaths and 779 cases of lung cancer.

According to researchers, fine particles in the exhaust enter lung tissue, where they can accumulate in the lungs and lymph nodes. Long-term exposure can leads to chronic obstructive lung disease as well as lung cancer.

Study after study shows a connection between
diesel exhaust exposure and cancer among truckers

This is one of several similar studies published in the last decade that links trucking and cancer risk and heart disease.

A recent Swedish study found that diesel exhaust could cause rapid deterioration of the function of blood vessels, as long as 24 hours after exposure.

In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency released a controversial 651-page study that concluded diesel exhaust could cause lung cancer. While the report noted the long-term health effects of exposure to diesel engine exhaust were uncertain, "the evidence for a potential cancer hazard to humans resulting from chronic inhalation exposure to [diesel emissions] is persuasive," it stated.

However, those studies did not take into account workers’ lifestyles and diet, as well as smoking, which could explain some of the higher rates of heart attacks and cancer. It’s not known whether this latest study took those issues into account.

The California’s Air Resources Board will consider the Berkeley-Harvard findings later this week when it votes on a controversial regulation which makes the state the first in the U.S. to require the purchase of new, smog-free 2010 engines or require carriers to retrofit pre-2007 model trucks with soot filters. The rule would extend to any trucks hauling in the state, regardless of where they’re base-plated.

California listed diesel exhaust as a known carcinogen in 1990. It also considers more than 40 chemicals in diesel to be toxic air contaminants.