USA Today: Ore. school buses filled with fumes

The state Department of Environmental Quality says many Oregon students are riding to school in diesel-powered buses filled with potentially harmful fumes. "I don't think most parents realize that when they're sending their children off to school, how dangerous it can be," Dana Kaye, executive director of the American Lung Association of Oregon, told The Oregonian newspaper.

More than two-thirds of the state's 5,200 school buses leak fumes through a hole in the crankcase or through tailpipe emissions, and those fumes could lead to serious health problems in adulthood, according to the DEQ.

"There is a growing body of evidence showing the increased risk of cancer, heart disease, impaired neurological development and pulmonary disorders associated with exposure to diesel fumes," said Kevin Downing, coordinator of the DEQ's Clean Diesel Initiative.