NEW YORK -- Calling it unsupported "opinion" and "replete with invalid and unsupported assertions," the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) fired broadside at the claims by the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) and Coalition for Clean Air (CCA) that diesel exhaust emissions from school buses pose a cancer risk to school children. The ACSH charges are found in a published a report titled School Buses and Diesel Fuel, a peer-review analysis by ACSH, that is highly critical of the science in the NRDC/CCA report, No Breathing in the Aisles.

By Robin Leeds

Scientists, pseudo-scientists, and the media have focused a lot of attention lately on the yellow school bus -- not because of its safety record, but because of its health record. And that record isn't looking good.

LOS ANGELES -- The Montebello Unified School District will now utilize a newly developed technology from Krupp-Bilstein of America which reduces the toxicity of diesel engine exhaust. The Bilstein Industrial Engine Flush System circulates environmentally safe detergents within the fuel injection system, oil passages, oil galleys, and crank case area of a diesel engine, and through a series of "wash, soak, and rinse" cycles and ultra-fine filtration, evacuates sludge, particular matter, contaimants, and soot. These foregn elements can burn off during combustion, fume out the exhaust, and circulate into the air.

SPRINGFIELD, Va. - An extensive, scientific study of a representative sample of 12 school buses in the fleet of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) concluded the concentration of diesel exhaust inside the buses is below the limits of detection. The study concluded, "Breathing the air on Fairfax County Public Schools buses poses no health risks to our students and staff."

SAN FRANCISCO -- The expiration of the 60-day advance notice for potential Prop 65 violations given to school bus manufacturers, distributors and bus OEMs operating in California, is drawing to a close. Formally set for April 13, the notice gives in-state companies an additional five-days to comply and out-of-state companies 10-days to comply.