JASON CARROLL, CNN ANCHOR: As you prepare to put your child on the school bus this morning, here's a story you may want to think about. A new report says kids who ride the bus are being exposed to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. CNN environment correspondent Natalie Pawelski takes a look at the study.</s>NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT: Kids riding diesel buses to school breath air laced with relatively high levels of toxic fumes, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council.</s>LINDA GREER, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: Inside the bus, the contaminants were eight times higher than in outdoor air. The two major health problems we're worried about are cancer over the lifetime of the child, and more immediately asthma attacks.</s>PAWELSKI: The study was based on just 20 hours of data gathered from four California school buses. In a statement, the School Bus Information Center, which represents schools transportation officials, bus manufacturers and drivers, said, quote, "frightening parents and children about the safety of school bus transportation is an unfair way for the environmental advocates to promote their agenda."</s>RICK ZBUR, INTL. TRUCK AND ENGINE CORP.: It only focused on four buses. All the buses were more than 20 years old. New diesel is very different from the old diesel they're sort of pointing to.</s>PAWELSKI: The NRDC says parents should not rush to pull their kids off school buses. In the short term, it's calling for opening bus windows when possible for better ventilation and seating the first kids to get on the bus up front where fumes are less dense. In the long term, the NRDC would like to see cleaner buses, like those powered by compressed natural gas. That would help cut air pollution inside the buses and out on the streets. Natalie Pawelski, CNN.
Kids on School Buses Exposed to Toxic Fumes, According to Study