DIESEL EXHAUST FUMES EXONERATED AGAIN
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THERE is no evidence to suggest that I exhaust fumes cause lung cancet. This was said in London on Wednesday. by Dr. P. J. Lowther, director of the Medical Research Council's Air Pollution Research Unit. He was giving a paper "Air Pollution and the Public Health" at the Royal Society of Arts.
He referred to the Royal College of Physicians' report "Smoking and Health" and the report of the same title
by the U.S. Surgeon-general. No one can read these works and come away unconvinced that the overwhelmingly important cause of lung cancer is the smoking of cigarettes", said Dr. Lowther.
He went on to say: "The motor vehicle is a common scapegoat for the guilt attached to the cigarette. Yet there is no evidence to blame motor exhaust for the rise in lung cancer. It is true that their increased use has been contemporanecius with the rise in lung cancer; but since it usually takes a period of roughly 20 years' exposure to a carcinogen to produce cancer, this evidence is poor and at best incomplete since it could only explain the latter-day rise.
" The exhaust products of petrol engines and maladjusted diesel engines do sometimes contain carcinogenic hydrocarbons, but the concentrations are minute in comparison with those found in coal smoke, "Again, if motor exhaust were the cause of this rise in lung cancer, the diSease would have appeared in excess among those who by virtue of their occupation have been exposed to high concentration of exhaust products. No such evidence has yet been published.
" This is a reason for rejoicing, yet many appear sad to learn that motor exhaust does not seem to cause cancer. This attitude in itself merits investigation."
Dr. Lowther went on to say that, unlike the properly run diesel, petrol engines emitted carbon monoxide and this was the only pollutant which the research unit had found in city air in concentrations which would not be tolerated in industry. There was a growing body of evidence that even low concentrations of carbon monoxide in the blood, insufficient to cause symptoms, could lead to impaired judgment. This work is of obvious relevance to road safety ", he remarked.
Standard-Triumph Distribotor i's York : Robert B. Massey and Co. Ltd., of Market Weighton, York, is to take over the Standard-Triumph distribution' for York and district from April 2. The company has acquired the leasehold premises in Davygate, York, from Myers and Burnell Ltd.
New Flyover for London's East End: Work will start shortly on the construction of a roundabout and flyover at the junction of Bow Road and Stratford High Street (All) with Old Ford Road and Bromley High Street in the East End of London.
Brown Brothers Move in Eastbourne The Eastbourne branch of Brown Brothers Ltd. has moved to Faraday Close, Brampton Road Trading Estate, Hampden Park, Eastbourne (Tel: Eastbourne 52261).