Bused kids breath pollutants up to five times dirtier than the air outside...

Little has been done.

Day in and day out, children across the U.S. are riding to school on aging buses, breathing what some activists say is a dangerous brew of pollutants up to five times dirtier than the air outside. It is a situation that Congress and many states have sought to fix in recent years.

 

Breathing high concentrations of diesel emissions — known as particulates — can cause minor ailments such as headaches, wheezing and dizziness. But studies have also found the contaminants can do more serious damage. Recent studies by the Environmental Protection Agency and other groups link the emissions to asthma and lung cancer.

 

"I think that once people start to understand that there is a simple economic fix to the problem, we could go from a situation where kids are being exposed to a high level of pollution to one where their exposure is virtually eliminated,"

 

The Clean Air Task Force in Boston put electronic monitors in students' backpacks to test air quality inside school buses. The organization said it found that the diesel exhaust levels were on average five times greater than they were outside.

 

"It's going to cost money," Soward said, "but the health of our children demands that we commit the funds."

 

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On the Net:

Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4777224.html

Group Against Smog and Pollution: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4777224.html

Clean Air Council: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4777224.html