More than half of all inhaled diesel soot particles remain in the body.
The exhaust from diesel-fuelled vehicles, wood fires and coal-driven power stations contains small particles of soot that flow out into the atmosphere. The soot is not only a climate hazard, but also for human health. Jenny Rissler, from Lund University (Sweden), and colleagues recruited 10 healthy men and women, who inhaled fumes from idling and transient engine running conditions of a heavy duty diesel engine. Studying the respiratory tract deposition fraction in the size range 10–500 nm, the researchers have elucidated how diesel soot deposits in the lungs, and reveal that more than half of all inhaled diesel soot particles remain in the body.
