Cancer blamed on trucks • Four Californian supermarket chains are
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being sued by environmental groups which claim people living near their distribution centres run the risk of cancer because of their trucks' diesel exhaust fumes.
According to the American trade paper Transport Topics, the court action came a week after a US government report, endorsed by the California Environmental Protection Agency, identified diesel exhaust fumes as a carcinogen.
Supermarket operators Vons, Ralphs, Lucky Stores and Stater Bros run some of the biggest truck fleets in California—residents near their depots claim they are breathing diesel fumes round the clock. But the grocery chains insist that trucks are the only viable way to transport their goods.
California law requires warnings to be posted whenever carcinogenic pollutants are present, and the California Air Resources Board is currently deciding whether to add diesel exhaust to the state's list of toxic air contaminants.
However, US trucking groups have dismissed the study as "bad science", claiming it is based on old engine technology and fuel formulations.