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A ubiquitous tire rubber–derived chemical induces acute mortality in coho salmon
- adrianN 6y agoYet another reason to reduce the use of cars. Are there studies into how much of a difference EV vs ICE makes when it comes to tire wear? More torque might mean more wear for example.
- saagarjha 6y agoI think that electric vehicles have more wear in general because they tend to be heavier.
- rscho 6y agoWeight is a crucial point if not the crucial point with car pollution. It's astounding that people think they're helping when driving >1000 kg vehicles, whether electric or gas or whatever else...
- labawi 6y agoOnly WRT tire pollution, road wear, casualties, sometimes noise ... Combustion engines are the single top pollutant in "developed" cities.
- mint2 6y agoTire wear most likely more, but certain things like brake pads less wear.
- stickfigure 6y agoSure... or perhaps reformulate tire rubber?
- adrianN 6y agoEven reformulated rubber will produce particulate pollution. Maybe not toxic to fish, but very unhealthy to breathe.
- irrational 6y agoWhat about cars versus trucks? There are a ton of trucks carrying goods traveling alongside the Columbia River on I-80 and WA-14 everyday. Do the cars or trucks traveling those routes pollute the Columbia more?
- carlmr 6y agoEven if trucks pollute more they might also save more. If you have trucks delivering goods to 100 households maybe the footprint is better than 100 households driving somewhere to buy goods.
- irrational 6y agoWell, I’m specifically talking about trucks along the Columbia gorge corridor (I-80) which parallels a huge river the Salmon migrate up.
- scottlocklin 6y agoHow about reducing the use of this chemical in tires first? Seems more doable to me than upending how civilization works.
- ouid 6y agoI'm a little skeptical of all of the "actually car pollution isn't caused by combustion" articles that have been coming out recently.
- xyzzyz 6y agoWhen you drive, the tread of your tires becomes more and more shallow, and at some point, it's so shallow that they need to be replaced. It happens, because the tires get abraded as you drive, shedding some of their surface. Where do you think the surface goes? Tire pollution is very real. Nobody says that the pollution isn't caused by combustion: it's another major source of pollution. Tire pollution is in some ways worse than combustion pollution these days. Modern gasoline-burning engines (and modern, properly maintained diesel ones) mostly emit volatile, gaseous pollution. However, tire pollution consists of solid microparticles, that contribute to significantly to airborne dust, which can be measured through PM2.5 and PM10.
- bamboozled 6y agoI’ve thought about how bad this must be for years. It’s hard to imagine all of the tyre dust that’s been lost into the environment over the years. Not just from cars, also commercial airliner tyres
- dredmorbius 6y agoAirline tire deposition is almost entirely witin the threshold / toucchdown zone portion of airport runways. The skid marks from sudden wheel spin-up and loading are highly evident: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/burbank-california-usa-april-skid-marks-runway-airport-near-los-angeles-117262723.jpg https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/burbank-california-usa-april... https://youtube.com/watch?v=DFOynlRYT54 https://youtube.com/watch?v=DFOynlRYT54 There's effectively no wear during flight
- jurip 6y agoAnother thing related to tire pollution is asphalt dust. Road surface gets used up, too, especially in places where studded winter tires are popular, and it's a significant source of airborne particulate matter: https://grapevine.is/news/2020/11/30/winter-tires-have-huge-impact-on-air-pollution/ https://grapevine.is/news/2020/11/30/winter-tires-have-huge-...
- yuhong 6y agoI wonder if catalyst converters would work for treating this problem: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.accounts.8b00642 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.accounts.8b00642
- irrational 6y agoThe Columbia River is a major route for Coho Salmon. There are highways on both sides of the river from the mouth of the Columbia to hundreds of miles inland. I-80 especially is a heavily trafficked road since it’s one of the few E-W highways through the Cascade range. And this is in a region that has rain the majority of the year. I assume tons of this chemical is being washed into the river each year. I’m not sure what can be done about it. Shut down the highways in Washington and Oregon along the river? Cut a new highway from Boise to Portland through the Cascade range somewhere south of the Columbia? Somehow restrict vehicular traffic along those highways? The cheapest and simplest solution might be to build some sort of catchment system along the roads that collect and cleans all runoff water. It would cost billions, but would be cheaper than building a new highway through the Cascades.
- Reason077 6y agoPresumably, the solution is to develop alternative tire formulations that do not include this toxic antioxidant?
- lumberingjack 6y agoI'm willing to spend $100 to $200 more per tire just to save fish I'm not even kidding tires are so cheap people just burn them off like it's no big deal
- mint2 6y agoThe only way this was found was how fast acting it was. Imagine the hundreds of thousands of chemicals and their millions of degradation products. Some of them are killing us right now.
- irrational 6y agoTrue. I wonder how long would it take to get those tires into circulation and replace the majority of tires in service? 5 years to develop new tires and start getting them into service and 5 more years for the majority of tires to have been worn out and replaced?
- ornornor 6y ago
- KMag 6y agoIf the title makes you think of zombie fish, acute usually means "short duration", but there's a less common medical definition of "rapid onset".
- dTal 6y agoThank you, I was indeed wondering whether the mortality could develop into a chronic condition.
- cf100clunk 6y agoThe cocktail of pollutants like 6PPD and platinum from highway rain runoff is devastating to salmon not only for the aquaculture industry but for the cultures of the ancestral peoples of those areas now called Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. The impact goes far beyond the pros-and-cons of automobile use. I don't have quick and convenient solutions in mind, but I hope for recognition and analysis of this devastation amongst political leaders.