Europe, for decades, promoted diesel cars for the sake of fuel efficiency in the erroneous belief that effective car-scale emissions filtration could be develop

Europe, for decades, promoted diesel cars for the sake of fuel efficiency in the erroneous belief that effective car-scale emissions filtration could be developed. The US didn't, and gasoline car exhaust, while still terrible for human health, is much better than diesel exhaust. This has improved dramatically in recent years with truck/bus filtration systems, electrification, and car bans (or dirty car bans) in European city centers.