Personally I really like the personalities of Frick and Frack, but the whole subject of Car Talk is wrong. Cars cause cancer, cars are killing our environment, cars are creating a worldwide asthma epidemic. How about Car FREE talk?
Huh? Say What?
Um…can you link us to any facts on these allegations?
By the way, do you drive? Have a family? And your age is?
Mountain, I believe he is right as far as he goes. Car emissions are not good and we all would be better off without them, all else being equal. Note: Everything else is never equal. The world if full of trade offs.
SHould we look for cleaner cars, sure. Should we look at society and how we might reduce our dependency on cars (not just substituting something as bad or worse however).
IMO the whole thing is very complex and while I hope we make progress, I hope we at least try, I have grand kids and I would like them to have a good life.
However we all have to live in the real world and not a perfect world. As such I believe C&C are not far off and I believe overall they are contributing more to the solution of the problem than the other way around.
I do know that cars are a major component too most auto accidents that invole deaths.
(Let’s not get personal.) That cars cause cancer is a no-brainer, and I could start compiling and linking to the easy-to-find evidence if necessary. But think about it next time you drive, put your kids in a car, pass kids on the street, or deal with cancer in your family (especially lung cancer). If our world were sane, we would run away from our car culture as fast as our feet could take us.
Cars are way down on the list of cancer sources. Instead of complaining about possible problems, how about suggesting solutions? Complaining is easy, solving is not. And cars today emit a tiny fraction of the pollutants they did 20 years ago, yet you claim they are now causing an asthma epidemic? I doubt it.
You should say that “I think linking cars to cancer is a no-brainer” Don’t imply that people that don’t agree with your convoluted connection cannot see a “no-brainer”, this will make you sound like O"Rielly. Do you want to sound like Bill O’Rielly?
I dislike the argument technique where one of the parties starts out by saying “You are much smarter than me so you must also agree that…” This technique must have a name.
So does the internet. Its an awful lot of electricity flowing around out there. Then you have the entire materials chain to get the equipment into existence. And then you have the entire waste stream (although a lot of people worry less about that b/c the people getting cancer, among other ailments, are poor kids in places like India. Out of sight out of mind?)
Its obvious that the way we have built the world around cars has very large negative externalities. But why single those out when your finger tips are touching another huge techno system with its own huge environmental and health externalities?
Oh…I long to be pure. (I don’t like single issue voters either).
http://www.praguemonitor.com/2010/10/06/mfd-d8-motorway-responsible-shortened-life-expectancy
D8 motorway responsible for locals’ shortened life expectancy
…
The results of the measurement, conducted by the Usti nad Labem health institute, are disastrous, proving that dense traffic seriously endangers the lives and health of the local population, MfD writes.
“High concentrations of dust aerosol were proved, approaching or even exceeding the annual limits,” the daily quotes a researcher as saying.
Dust aerosol is created by fuel burning in engines, especially in those used by lorries, MfD writes
Also just do a little research into benzene, air pollution. Cars are one of the main if the main cause of air pollution in the world. Air pollution => cancer and asthma
http://www.praguemonitor.com/2010/10/06/mfd-d8-motorway-responsible-shortened-life-expectancy
D8 motorway responsible for locals’ shortened life expectancy
The results of the measurement, conducted by the Usti nad Labem health institute, are disastrous, proving that dense traffic seriously endangers the lives and health of the local population, MfD writes.
“High concentrations of dust aerosol were proved, approaching or even exceeding the annual limits,” the daily quotes a researcher as saying.
Dust aerosol is created by fuel burning in engines, especially in those used by lorries, MfD writes
Also just do a little research into benzene, air pollution. Cars are one of the main if the main cause of air pollution in the world. Air pollution => cancer and asthma
You might want to read that more carefully. This report, from Prague, is not likely to be representative of most of the US. Yes, vehicle pollution is a major problem in some areas, particularly third world, or areas near lots of construction. Also, ‘dust aerosols’ are not emitted by gasoline cars, but by older diesel cars and by diesel trucks (“lorries”). That’s one reason that diesel cars are very uncommon in the US: our stringent particulate regulations. This is why generalizing particular studies in specific areas is usually incorrect.
Here’s more confirmation of how cars cause cancer. Let’s not forget the horrible effects on our lives through car accidents and the effect of freeways on nature.
Prague’s street most polluted in ?R
The Legerova street in Prague’s second district, one of the most important traffic arteries of the capital city, has received the sad primacy of having the highest concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the Czech Republic in 2009. This is above all the effect of the car traffic - every day, the street sees tens of thousands of cars.
…
In the Legerova street, the probability of mortality is higher by tens of percent, said Eva Rychl?kov? from the Central Bohemian Institute of Public Health. In the case of lung cancer it its 50 percent, in the case of cardiovascular diseases it equals 44 percent. The probability of infant mortality is higher as well.
Again, why is this important to most folks in the US? NOx specs are very tight here, the other reason diesel cars are few and far between.
No, it’s true of car pollution in general. Please read my new link below. Or take a look at your car’s owner’s manual, it says right in it – mine says “Warning: This product contains or emits chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm.”
Check your owner’s manual. It says right on it, your car causes cancer.
Please let us know what you recommend. We take risks in every area of our lives, what is your solution?
You listen to Joe Jackson’s music, don’t you?
We could all ride a horse, that’s more natural.
But they emit a LOT more unhealthy pollution than a modern car engine, not to mention the mess. 
Name me just one thing that doesn’t cause cancer.
Death.