The IARC had previously categorised diesel exhausts as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’. The updated classification follows the findings earlier this year of a US study of occupational exposure to such emissions in underground miners, which showed an increased risk of death from lung cancer in exposed workers.
The IARC also warns that people are not only exposed to motor-vehicle exhausts but also to exhausts from other diesel engines, including other modes of transport, such as diesel trains and ships, and from power generators.
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