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This article is flat out wrong. The study they cite does not state the things the article says it states. And the study they cite certainly does not compare the

This article is flat out wrong. The study they cite does not state the things the article says it states. And the study they cite certainly does not compare the harm from brakes to the harm from exhaust. The study simply says that brake dust can cause asthma and hay fever in children. There is no comparison made to the harm from exhaust. Exhaust is certainly more harmful than brakedust in the quantities one may encounter in the real world. Exhaust contains many chemicals that are actual poisons. Iron is not poisonous and copper can only be poisonous in large amounts. It is true that they can cause sensitivity and autoimmune diseases in the lungs especially in children, but this is much more remote harm than the actual poison in exhaust. Nobody kills themselves by sniffing brakes but many people have done it by closing themselves in a garage with a running car engine. (They say that is harder now with catalytic converters but it still happens).

silisili 2y ago
Anecdote related to last paragraph...20 or so years ago I drove a then 20 year old truck some guy had cobbled together. It was a real hunk o junk, rusty, the speedometer didn't work, etc. But it did have a new engine and carb, but it had no cat. It had several exhaust leaks (judging by noise). I was lucky it even had mufflers. Went through a taco bell drive thru one night that had a weird tunnel portion. It was a slow line, and even sitting in that tunnel a couple minutes, my friend and I got lightheaded and a bit teary eyed. It's scary we didn't even realize it til we got through the tunnel. That was the moment for me of realizing how awful these things are for the environment. If we have to be enclosed with our own emissions it will literally kill us, but we just blow it away in the open air as 'not my problem anymore.' I'm glad emissions are better now, and that electric has a viable path forward. Shame we weren't at this point a few decades ago.

silisili 2y ago

Anecdote related to last paragraph...20 or so years ago I drove a then 20 year old truck some guy had cobbled together. It was a real hunk o junk, rusty, the speedometer didn't work, etc. But it did have a new engine and carb, but it had no cat. It had several exhaust leaks (judging by noise). I was lucky it even had mufflers. Went through a taco bell drive thru one night that had a weird tunnel portion. It was a slow line, and even sitting in that tunnel a couple minutes, my friend and I got lightheaded and a bit teary eyed. It's scary we didn't even realize it til we got through the tunnel. That was the moment for me of realizing how awful these things are for the environment. If we have to be enclosed with our own emissions it will literally kill us, but we just blow it away in the open air as 'not my problem anymore.' I'm glad emissions are better now, and that electric has a viable path forward. Shame we weren't at this point a few decades ago.