Children in Arizona are back in school, which sadly also means many of them are also breathing in clouds of toxic exhaust from diesel school buses.
If you’ve ever waited at a school bus stop, walked through the bus lane or were stopped behind a school bus as it picked up or discharged kids, you’ve choked on the black plumes that envelop the school perimeter and put the more than 300,000 Arizona children who ride our state’s 7,000 buses daily in peril.
Little could Columbia University’s Frank Cyr have imagined when he proposed the national standard yellow color for school transportation a century ago, that those buses — now the country’s largest transportation fleet — would become 36,000-pound carriers of a known carcinogen.
Indeed, diesel exhaust increases the risk of lung cancer, as well as leads to or worsens respiratory conditions, including asthma.
Already, 1 in 10 children under 17 have asthma or other respiratory conditions. And for those living in underserved communities — where myriad sources of pollution are a concern — the impact is multiplied, adversely impacting academic performance.
But here is a smart lesson........