the air around us is toxic, full of toxins that cause cancers, along with other serious ailments. The magnitude of air toxics is alarming, especially those emitted by vehicles. These are greater

Mobile source air toxics come from four sources. One: some toxics are present in fuel and are emitted into the air when the fuel evaporates or passes through the engine unburned. Benzene, for example, is a component of gasoline. Cars emit small quantities of benzene in unburned fuel, or as vapour when gasoline evaporates.

the strongest acid: The world's strongest acid, at least a million times more potent than concentrated sulphuric acid, has been made in a lab in California. It is also one of the least corrosive.

Even occasional exposure to benzene can damage human genes

Diesel may be the most commercially viable fuel at present, but one that raises serious doubts on the future of urban health. Sundeep Salvi of Air Pollution Research Group, Southhampton, UK, talks to Sari

Let the Bhure Lal Committee decide on what qualifies to be a clean fuel, says the Supreme Court

The Indian oil sector quibbles on standards for cleaner fuels . Does nothing

Low benzene petrol is good, but the government leaves much to be desired

Duplicate samples of the diet of vegetarian adults were analyzed to estimate the residues of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and benzene hexachloride (BHC). The total food consumed by an adult per day was collected and categorized as fatty food, non-fatty food, water, and beverages. Fatty food was the main source of these chlorinated insecticides, and it contributed almost 50% of the total dietary intake. The average total DDT and BHC consumed by an adult were 19.24 micrograms/d and 77.15 micrograms/d, respectively.

Ninety-four male pump workers, employed in 41 petrol filling stations in Kanpur (formerly Cawnpore) and Lucknow—both in the Ganges plain of north India—were clinically examined.

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