The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to declare diesel exhaust a "likely human carcinogen" within a few months, several news sources reported.
The untitled report about dangers of diesel exhaust estimates that lifelong exposure to diesel fumes poses a cancer risk somewhere between one in 1,000 and one in 100,000. But the EPA warns that those estimates are highly uncertain and shouldn't be used to calculate how many people die from diesel fumes.
The report is based on experiments on animals and studies of workers, such as truckers, who are exposed to diesel fuel on the job. Critics say the data in the report has so many holes that calling exhaust a "likely carcinogen" is invalid.
"I think it's not correct," said Glenn Keller of the Engine Manufacturers Association. "There's not compelling evidence in the human data."