Diesel fumes linked to cancer growth

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The link between diesel fumes and cancer lies in the diesel exhaust ability to induce the growth of new blood vessels that supply tumors, U.S. researchers say.

Senior author Qinghua Sun of Ohio State University in Columbus said the tiny size of inhaled diesel particles, most less than 0.1 microns in diameter, potentially enables them to penetrate the human circulatory system, organs and tissues. A micron is one-millionth of a meter.

Diesel exhaust exposure levels in the study were designed to mimic the exposure people might experience while living in urban areas and commuting in heavy traffic.

"The message from our study is that exposure to diesel exhaust for just a short time period of two months could give even normal tissue the potential to develop a tumor," Sun said in a statement.

The study, published in the journal Toxicology Letters, found exposure to diesel exhaust caused a six-fold increase in new blood vessel formation in the ischemic hind limbs after eight weeks and a four-fold increase in vessel sprouting in the normal hind limbs of the mice in the same amount of time compared to mice breathing filtered air.