CARB Propaganda

In a monumental display of honesty, CARB has titled their propaganda poster "Factoids about Diesel Exhaust Emissions". You can download it right from the CARB website at http://www.arb.ca.gov/diesel/tru/documents/factoids_dpm.pdf (that is until they have it removed), or you can see it below.

First notice the definition "Factoid" from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/factoid, and you will see that CARB is admitting that the poster is "something fictitious or unsubstantiated that is presented as fact, devised esp. to gain publicity and accepted because of constant repetition." If you are having a hard time reading the poster which seems to mock the concept of graphic "design" the full size version can be seen by clicking on the image itself.

fac·toid
(fāk'toid)
n.

A piece of unverified or inaccurate information that is presented in the press as factual, often as part of a publicity effort, and that is then accepted as true because of frequent repetition: "What one misses finally is what might have emerged beyond both facts and factoids—a profound definition of the Marilyn Monroe phenomenon" (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt).
Usage Problem A brief, somewhat interesting fact.

Usage Note: The -oid suffix normally imparts the meaning "resembling, having the appearance of" to the words it attaches to. Thus the anthropoid apes are the apes that are most like humans (from Greek anthrōpos, "human being"). In some words -oid has a slightly extended meaning—"having characteristics of, but not the same as," as in humanoid, a being that has human characteristics but is not really human. Similarly, factoid originally referred to a piece of information that appears to be reliable or accurate, as from being repeated so often that people assume it is true. The word still has this meaning in standard usage. Seventy-three percent of the Usage Panel accepts it in the sentence It would be easy to condemn the book as a concession to the television age, as a McLuhanish melange of pictures and factoids which give the illusion of learning without the substance.

Factoids about Diesel Exhaust Emissions In 1998, California identified diesel particulate matter as a toxic air contaminant. In 2000, the ARB approved a Diesel Risk Reduction Plan. The Plan is to reduce diesel PM emissions and the associated health risk by 75% in 2010 and 85% by 2020. There are about 1,250,000 diesel-fueled engines and vehicles in California. These include trucks, buses, bulldozers, tractors, portable equipment, cranes, refrigerated units, and stationary engines. Diesel PM includes “soot” and over 40 other known cancer-causing substances. Each year in California, diesel PM contributes up to 24,000 premature deaths and thousands of hospital admissions, asthma attacks and other respiratory symptoms. Diesel PM exposure may facilitate development of new allergies. Many diesel emission sources are concentrated near densely populated areas such as ports, rail yards and heavily traveled roadways. Most diesel PM is less than 1 microgram in diameter (1/70th the diameter of a human hair). Proposition 65 (the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986) identified diesel exhaust as a chemical known to cause cancer. Each year, premature deaths from diesel PM is estimated to be $16 billion and $3.5 billion for hospitalizations, the treatment of illnesses and lost workdays. Diesels constitute only about 5% of road vehicles, but, can contribute from 10% to 75% of visibility degradation in urban areas. Diesel engines emit more than half the black carbon emissions (a strong absorber of solar radiation) in the U.S. and about 30% globally. It is the second biggest contributor to global warming, about 60% of carbon dioxide. Each year, diesel PM causes about 250 excess cancer cases in California.