> Matthew and Julie Bos wrote: <snip> > Does the government have > >the right to sue people into buying new cars when > their old cars no longer meets smog standards?
When I lived in Texas, the government had the right to *not* issue you a car registration if your vehicle's emissions failed their standard (but I have to say that I saw many more "smokies" there than here in Colorado). Otherwise, why would there be emissions tests at all? "Grandfathering in" can't be unlimited (there was a bit of snarling over that practice in the field of Emergency Medicine, according to one of my (Boarded) friends), because of safety issues. Air pollution is certainly a health problem, both from a particulate and a chemical standpoint, even for the newborn: Rev Environ Health 2001 Jul-Sep;16(3):169-89 Health risk assessment of urban suspended particulate matter with special reference to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a review. Ravindra, Mittal AK, Van Grieken R. Department of Civil Engineering, IIT, Delhi, Hauzkhas, New Delhi- 110016, India. "Airborne suspended particulate matter is an important marker of air quality. The term 'particulates' includes organic and inorganic matter, nitrogen compounds, sulphur compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), several heavy metals, and radionuclides. The health risks from the 'classic' pollutants sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, and particulates have been comprehensively reviewed. Alarming levels of non-classic pollutants like the PAHs have been reported globally. PAHs have been found in placental tissues of women and in umbilical cord blood samples from newborn babies. The damaged DNA in cord blood is a indication of the fate of these pollutants in the environment. Hence, a need exists for a comprehensive investigation of the human health-related aspects of exposure to particulates and PAHs in the urban environment. This paper reviews the literature on PAHs in conjunction with particulate matter on a global perspective." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12357845&dopt=Abstract "Acute and chronic exposure to such components of air pollution as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and respirable particulate matter (isolated or in various combinations) enhances airway responsiveness to aeroallergens in atopic subjects." (Atopic = allergic individual) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12215581&dopt=Abstract "These findings indicate that air pollutants are significantly associated with ischemic stroke mortality, which suggests an acute pathogenetic process in the cerebrovascular system induced by air pollution." (in addition to the already-known association of air pollution and cardiovascular disease.) Children (and the elderly) are particularly at risk. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12204833&dopt=Abstract "We found positive associations between morbidity prevalence and outdoor levels of PM [particulate matter] of all size fractions, but the association appeared to be stronger for coarse particles (PM(10-2.5)). The results also present some evidence that ambient levels of NO(x) and SO(2) were positively associated with children's respiratory symptoms, but the evidence for these two gaseous pollutants appeared to be weaker than that for the PM." This 2002 article abstract reports that using a system to remove several pollutants at once is more cost-effective than single-target systems (but I won't pretend to have a working knowledge of power plants!): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12022692&dopt=Abstract "An integrated approach for the simultaneous reduction of major combustion-generated pollutants from power plants is presented along with a simplified economic analysis. With this technology, the synergistic effects of high-temperature sorbent/coal or sorbent/natural gas injection and high-temperature flue gas filtration are exploited." Debbi __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
