“Study comes amid attempts across U.S. to ban use on playgrounds, parking lots and driveways.”
The Chicago Tribune reports:
Children living next to driveways or parking lots coated with coal tar are exposed to significantly higher doses of cancer-causing chemicals than those living near untreated asphalt, according to a study that raises new questions about commonly used pavement sealants.
Researchers from Baylor University and theU.S. Geological Survey also found that children living near areas treated with coal tar-based sealants ingest twice as many polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, from contaminated dust tracked into their homes than they do from food…
There is no evidence that people are at increased risk of cancer from ingestion of PAHs.
More than twice that on food. What’s that old nonsense about two times zero still being zero?
The Trib has no sense of balance whatsoever when it comes to scare studies. Oh for the good old days on the slippery slope when awareness of possible concerns was enough. Now, every improbable source of theoretical concern must be banned without question. Witch doctor say oil bad.
More mistaking statistical correlation for scientific facts. Coal tar sealant is in such high use that if it were a problem, we would be considering cancer to be “normal.”