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Toxic Tailpipe Facts

by April Wong on Friday, August 6, 2010

source:US EPA

  •  Motor vehicles are responsible for 52% of reactive hydrocarbons (VOC) and 72% of nitrogen oxides in the air that create smog or ground-level ozone.

  • Nearly 100 cities exceed the EPA National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone.

  • Motor vehicles release more than 50 percent of the hazardous, cancer-causing air pollutants like Benzene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, 1-3-butadiene, and particulates in the air.

  • Motor vehicles release about 90 percent of the carbon monoxide found in urban air.

  • Car emissions kill 30,000 people each year in the U.S.

  • More than half of the people in the U.S. live in areas that failed to meet federal air quality standards at least several days a year.

  • Gas guzzling SUV's put out 43% more global-warming pollutants (28 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon of gas consumed) and 47% more air pollution than the average car.

Pollutants and Chemicals from Auto Exhaust: Their Impact and Where They Come From

Pollutants

Health Impact

Sources
Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx)

(also some are greenhouse gases)

  • colds in chest
  • chronic wheezing
  • cough, chest cough w/phlegm
  • bronchitis, respiratory illness
  • decrease in lung function
  • may facilitate cancer cell growth
 Passenger vehicle emissions
Ozone
  • increase in asthma in children
  • reduction in lung function
  • exercise related wheezing, coughing, chest tightness
  • long term exposure linked to emphysema
  forms when NOx + reactive organic gases combine in sunlight
Carbon monoxide
  • Blocks chemical receptors that carry oxygen to blood
  • Dizziness
  • Fatigue
  • impairs nervous system functioning
  • injury to pregnant women and developing fetus
 Gasoline combustion; 77% from transportation sources

Particulate Matter

(PM10, PM2.5)

  • Can carry dangerous toxins from the air into the lungs; so small escape our natural defense mechanisms
  • once inside the body, give toxins that have stuck to them more time to cause cancer
  • can damage or paralyze the cilia in lungs, making us more vulnerable to disease
  • associated with asthma, lung cancer
 Fuel combustion; oil refineries; wear on brake linings; dust from paved roads


Chemical

Health Impact

Sources
Benzene
  • Repeated exposure to low levels: leukemia, blood abnormalities (reduced red/white blood cells)
  • sudden exposure to high levels: depress central nervous system, vomiting, sleepiness, shallow rapid pulse
 90% from use of gasoline in motor vehicles
1,3 Butadiene
  • Carcinogen
 90% from motor vehicle emissions and wear on rubber tires
Formaldehyde
  • Carcinogen
  • irritant that makes exposure to other chemicals more harmful
  • contributes to smog (formed through chemical reaction b/t NOx and hydrocarbons in sunlight)
 60% from motor vehicle exhaust

 

Other resources on auto exhaust impact on health:

A short list of the likely pathogens in car exhaust

EPA's Mobile Source Emissions page

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