Cancer experts are calling for greater action to reduce the deadly cancer risk caused by the 21,000 trucks travelling through Melbourne’s inner-west each day.
In its submission to a federal government discussion paper on a proposed national clean air agreement, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre has highlighted the dangers posed by diesel pollution caused by thousands of trucks rumbling through residential streets across the city of Maribyrnong.
The
Clean air. Less cancer report highlights the area’s risk as a diesel pollution hotspot.
The report calls for the “reducing and phasing out of older trucks”, noting that half of all trucks in Australian cities are old, each emitting as much particulate matter as 60 newer trucks.
The report attributes 3000 Australian deaths and 3.7 million global deaths a year to air pollution, arguing studies over five decades have consistently shown an association between air pollution and increased risk of developing lung cancer.
Maribyrnong Truck Action Group president Samantha McArthur said the report vindicated the group’s calls over the past decade for trucks to be moved away from residential areas and schools, kindergartens and childcare centres.
“The authors of this report are some of Australia’s most eminent lung cancer physicians. They understand lung cancer and they understand the causes,” she said.
Ms McArthur said the report strengthened calls for a school crossing truck curfew on Francis Street to help protect children travelling to and from Wembley Primary School.
Benjamin Millar
