Navistar concern hardly scientific

Here we go again. The concern over the supposed environmental risks of a proposed Navistar diesel research center in Lisle on a nearby autism school (and governor candidate Kirk Dillard's reaction to it) appears based on ignorant, incomplete and misleading information, and a total lack of anything scientific.

There is nothing I know, and nothing the news stories have detailed, that 1. connects diesel or any other fuel emissions to creating, exacerbating or having any effects on autism or any similar condition, 2. actually tells us what Navistar would be doing that would create such a hazard, if any, 3. and why normal and existing environmental rules applying to emissions from this or any other business facility don't address the concerns.

Where is the science behind the "concern" other than simple ignorant fears? This story is just like the one a couple of years ago about supposed possible "risks" of building the new Hubble Middle School in Wheaton a mile away from the BP Amoco labs. Someone thought, "That's only a mile from where all those people working with chemicals got sick 20 years ago. Maybe it isn't safe for the children."

The Daily Herald made front page news of this when there was no science behind the "concern," which was nothing more than a ploy to derail the location for the new school.

Here, do the students in question normally ride school busses with diesel engines to the school? If so, they already are exposed to far more diesel exhaust than they will ever likely experience from a business facility nearby that is subject to normal emissions standards. But even with that, until someone details more precisely, based on scientific data, why this is a concern anyway, it's all just either Dark Ages ignorance, or a phony NIMBY ploy to avoid having the facility next door.

Kent Schielke

Naperville