ron.dittmer wrote:
My brother's wife has asthma which is triggered by the smell of diesel exhaust. She does fine near the small Sprinter diesel based motor homes, the newer ones that have the current-day catalytic converter type thing for the exhaust.
Do the latest diesel pushers have the same pollution control devises to eliminate the smell that triggers my sis-in-law's asthma? My wife and I also have trouble with diesel fumes, but not to that degree.
I think the answer is pretty complicated. Diesel exhaust contains lots of different substances. The typical
smell that people associate with diesel exhaust was usually associated with sulfur compounds and is greatly reduced by low-sulfur fuels (now mandatory for all on-road engines) and modern engine emission control technologies. Another significant component, though, as mentioned above, is "diesel particulate matter." That's not a smell issue, but might present two issues. The first is that the PM is quite small, small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs (unlike "smoke," which is made up mostly of big particles). Second, various organic compounds (like aldehydes and aromatics) can adhere to the PM and are strong irritants. I'd wonder if your SIL's reaction might seem to be triggered by the smell (because that's what one can detect), but is actually triggered by some other component.
I agree that modern DPs are better on all counts, although it still seems like I sometimes get a jolt of some eye-watering, throat-closing diesel-something at campgrounds, especially when the guy next door decides to idle his motorhome endlessly prior to departure. Maybe those are old units, or maybe I'm just getting cranky in my old age.
I don't know about asthma triggers (I'm sure you know way more than you want to), but it seems like it varies greatly from person to person. I have a friend whose asthma can even be triggered by a sudden deep breath of cold air! I do believe that particulate matter (even relatively large particulates like pollen) and organic chemicals (especially irritating chemicals) are frequently associated with triggers. Since both are present in diesel exhaust, your question is a good one. I tried to google the issue, but came up empty. Most of the references seem to address either low level, urban atmospheric concentrations of DPM, or high-level, long-term occupational exposures. I couldn't find anything that would be useful to your question. Maybe somebody else will find something.
So, how's that for a long and particularly unhelpful response?
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