Slog tipper Rob points our attention to the Atlantic:

New research has found that bicycle commuters inhale more than twice the amount of black carbon particles as pedestrians making a comparable trip. That healthy bike ride to and from work might be getting you out of a car, but it’s not getting you out of the way of the automobile emissions.

The study, led by Professor Jonathan Grigg from Barts and the London School of Medicine, looked at bicycle and pedestrian commuters in London to determine whether different modes of travel exposed commuters to higher levels of black carbon. By comparing levels of carbon in the lungs of five healthy bicycle commuters to the levels of five healthy pedestrian commuters, the researchers found a large disparity. The bicycle commuters had 2.3 times more black carbon in their lungs. They claim that the probability of this happening by chance is less than one percent.

As we know, the investigation can’t really begin until we ask the most important question: Were their lungs wearing a helmet?

25 replies on “Buns of Steel and Lungs of Coal”

  1. Thanks for that. The next time some bike-riding hipster gives me shit for firing up a cigarette, I’ll be sure to throw that at them.

  8. Presumably this is because the cyclists are not only closer to the cars and buses but breathing harder, thus drawing in much more air, and much deeper?

    I wonder if the the health benefits of the exercise (to say nothing of the wakey-wakey alertness that comes with it) offset the lung damage? I’ll bet they do. An athlete who smokes is healthier than a couch potato who doesn’t.

  9. keyword here is London, you know how all your trendy upscale yippy friends complain about not enough cool diesel cars available in the US, ( cause they want to do the biodiesel)? Its because our current car emissions standards include particulates.

    The last doctor I asked about this issue said that in the US at least, the health benefits of cycling outweigh the potential risks of breathing enhanced levels of pollution.

    If you really want to get neurotic start thinking about exposure pedestrians and everyone gets from asbestos dust from brake pads ( still not regulated! )

  10. Asbestos fibers were once used in automobile brake pads, shoes, and clutch discs. Since the mid-1990s, a majority of brake pads, new or replacement, have been manufactured instead with linings made of ceramic, carbon, metallic and aramid fiber (Twaron or Kevlar—the same material used in bulletproof vests).

    —Wikipedia

    Of course, many older cars still have asbestos in brake-pad and clutch linings.

  11. My snot is always black when I travel to London; it’s pretty clear here in Seattle. It’s not British diesel cars – it’s the coal burning 19th & 20th Centuries.

  14. @12,

    Bike commuters likely go farther, but they may not be on the road as long. I think the most relevant metric would be how much time is spent commuting, when you’re calculating how much pollution they inhale.

  15. Seems a completely unsurprising result to me.

    I’d expect a bake commuter is processing at least 2.3 times as much air though their lungs as your everyday ambling down the street pedestrian is too. There is nothing surprising or dramatic here.

    And next up on the news: Runners wear down the soles of their shoes faster than walkers! Film at 11:00!

  16. Nobody’s saying anything about this meaning bicycle commuting should be avoided, just that there are risks and mitigating factors you might want to be aware of.

    Or, judging from the comments, many of you would rather not know.

  18. @10: Not many old cars are still on their original brake linings; brakes are a wear part. Clutches last longer but most of the dust is contained inside the housing.

  20. @6: Most of the carbon particulates come from diesel vehicles, especially heavy trucks and buses, which have weaker emissions standards. Tightening standards on passenger cars is unlikely to help.

  21. @9, @18: I should have clarified that asbestos use in brakes and clutches DOES still appear to be unregulated, as @9 said. An EPA ban was originally scheduled to go into effect in 1996, causing a flurry of R&D and resulting in the widespread adoption of alternatives, but the ban was overturned for these uses by a court ruling. Aftermarket parts may contain asbestos and you would never know, because no law requires labeling, either. And no long-term studies have been done on replacement fibers and compounds, so they may cause similar or additional health problems.

    http://www.aa1car.com/library/trtu796.ht…

    http://www.ehow.com/about_5729654_asbest…

  22. @14, first, I think it’d be interesting to see it normalized to either metric. By distance and by time.

    But if people are going to use this to nay-say cycling vs walking, I do think that the greater distance that cyclists are able to cover is relevant.

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