Car emissions are worse than smoking
Let’s put things into perspective regarding secondhand smoke from a cigarette when a person is outdoors (“Council appears ready to snuff smoking,” March 27).
It’s one thing to not like the smell of cigarettes, but to say that a person smoking outdoors is causing cancer in another person is, in my opinion, political hype. Being fairly close to a fired-up barbecue should be more of a concern than a cigarette.
However, I am much more concerned with vehicle motors.
According to an article published Sunday on an ABC-TV Minneapolis website, it was written that “Vehicle motors release particulate matter, dirt, nitrous oxides, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into the air.
This is regardless of measures taken by the automobile manufacturer to prevent pollution. The article goes on to state, “These chemicals are linked to increased rates of cancer, heart disease, lung disease, asthma and are the major source of human-caused climate change.” I must say I am not yet convinced about the latter.
Additionally, the article states, “Children are especially vulnerable to vehicle air pollution because their lungs are still developing, and they inhale more pounds of pollution per pound of body weight than adults do.”
I think, by far, the culprit is the automobile.
MARLENE WALKER
Glendale
Some clarifications on push-pull issue
This is in response to a letter that was printed in the Glendale News-Press titled “Pushing trains needs to stop” (Mailbag, Monday).
According to the writer of the letter, she was involved in an accident in which an Amtrak train hit a truck because the conductor was unable to see the truck, because the train was pushing and the conductor was at the back of the line of cars.
First off, it’s the engineer who is driving the train, and not the conductor.
Second, to clarify about the push-pull mode, when the train is in the push mode, the engineer is actually in the front of the train in a car, which is known as the cabcar.
There he has all the controls, as he would have in the engine that is pushing the train, which basically means he can see everything in front of him.
Also, when a train is moving at speed, it can take a mile to stop once it has gone into emergency.
JOSEPH BARBARA
Glendale
City has done its bit against pollution
