Diesel vs gasoline engine pollution

[frankiee]

My sister heard that diesel fumes can cause cancer and she hates them (shes a nurse practitioner).
I say that gasoline engines are worse for the people and environment and think all engines (almost) should be diesel (lesser of two evils)
Is there a site where this information is given?
Can I back my claim?

 

[JEB66]

Which one is better depends upon what you are targeting.

diesel engins get better mileage and thus produce less CO2, but they can produce up to 400 times more particulate.

 

[jiyoo]

The health effect of diesel particle is not really and exactly figured out yet, since its composition and interaction in the body is very complicated. But, many of toxicologiest and engineers working on this and they believe it can cause the mortality.

Generally, the diesel engines exhaust a lot more pollutant than gasoline engine, especially particulates. Some of hydro carbon would be exhausted from the gas engine, but if you maintain the catalyst in the exhust pipe, it wouldn't be much. However, the diesel PM has also a lot of unburned carbon and it can cause the serious health effect.

you can find some more information at:

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/toxics.htm

 

[bonzoboy]

If you are concerned about that, diesel particulate can be fairly aggressive. A recent study done in urban areas found that the particulate emissions from power plants (mostly sulfates) had minimal effect on health. Whereas there seemed to be a strong correlation for locally generated pollutants. Diesel particulates are known to include a host of PAH's which are known carcinogens. But at the same time, most cases of lung cancer are associated with smoking, not diesel particulates.