Air pollution produced by 1 hamburger ‘more than a truck’

September 21, 2012 | Cinema | Written by

London, September 21: Commercial charbroilers like the ones used in fast food restaurants are doing more harm to the air quality than an 18-wheeler, a new study has found.

Researchers from the University of California, Riverside, claim that the charbroilers send a staggering quantity of particulate matter into the ecosystem, more than any truck or factory smokestack.

“Emissions from commercial charbroilers are a very significant uncontrolled source of particulate matter…more than twice the contribution by all of the heavy-duty diesel trucks,” the Daily Mail quoted Bill Welch, principal development engineer for the study, said in a statement.

“For comparison, an 18-wheeler diesel-engine truck would have to drive 143 miles on the freeway to put out the same mass of particles as a single charbroiled hamburger patty,” he said.

Residents in a South Boston community believe those claims, and insist that they’re being smoked out of their own homes thanks to a new burger place in the neighbourhood. (ANI)