digg

Wow, that is interesting. I can't believe this research hadn't been done before

The headline is a little misleading (which in Avijit's defense, is the headline from the article itself). Not that I'm defending fast food, but saying that it's worse for the air than all the trucks on the road because it's worse in one area is overstating things a bit. I do think it's a good idea to control these VOC's (as the article suggests), I just think that keeping things level-headed is also a good idea.

For example, I don't know the statistics, but I'll bet that driving a truck for 1,000 miles contributes far more CO2 to the atmosphere than cooking four normal sized hamburgers.

On the other hand, reading about the rapid-cook technology should give some people pause before ordering from a fast-food restaurant again.

DAMN YOU RONALD MCDONALD!?!?

in related news, the calories in their giant burgers could power a car further and cheaper than gasoline.

Heavy diesel engines are cleaning up in leaps and bounds. They are not the black smoke monsters they were, even 10 years ago. With the recent addition of EGR technology and low sulfur diesel fuels, as well as stricter regulations for the engines due to release in 2007, in some areas(read high pollution areas) the engines will actually exhaust cleaner air than they take in.

I dugg this story because it is interesting, but someone should look up the difference between "then" and "than" before writing their title.

Writing skills are plummeting. :(

Please look up the word "THAN" and begin using it immediately.

So all that pollution is from the OTHER thing that America has the most of...

I like this comment from the article:

Maybe everybody should stop eating! Then we'll save the planet!

I don't eat fast food or drive trucks, but i do burn tires in my backyard

one word: Burger King

If you think the VOC emissions from cooking burgers is bad, it's NOTHING compared to what the cow emitted while it was alive. http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2005/08/should_we_have.html?t=archive

Clearly, cows are the cause of global warming.

"Clearly, cows are the cause of global warming." - sorry I just love that statement.

Volatile Organic Compounds are not all dangerous. Some of them are, yes, but the fumes from a burger and the fumes from a tailpipe are totally different. As the article correctly points out, some of the dangerous ones are present over a grill, but it distorts things greatly to include all the safe VOCs in this statistic.

Cows produce a LOT of methane. Methane has a far greater effect on global warming via the greenhouse effect than CO2. And one of the biggest contributers to the greenhouse effect is good ol' water vapour, which man has really no effect on.

Kill cows
Eat beef
Save the planet!

If I ever visit LA, I'll think... "Man, this air is so polluted with Big Macs"

Reported as inaccurate -

1. Your title is mis-leading, this article doesn't say that fast food restaurants are worse then all of the trucks on the road, because that is an absolutely ridiculous claim that even a hack website like treehugger.com wouldn't bother to make.

2. Treehugger.com is conflating the term VOC with Greenhouse Gases. VOC's do not = Global Warming. VOC is not even a term with standard scientific clarification, and even if it was, it has no direct correlation to global warming. A truck driving a 1,000 miles might not generate as much VOC particulate matter as 4 hamburgers (even then I dispute this claim anecdotaly, but have no honest evidence on the fact) but a truck driving a 1,000 miles certainly generates more Greenhouse Gases then 4 hamburgers.

I am liberal and pro-environment, but I am anti-stupidity, and this surely qualifies. I will take increased Corporate Average Fuel Economy and Carbon Standards any day of the week vs. cat converters at McDonalds...

We should start eating hybrids.

Save The Planet, Kill Yourself
-George Carlin

White Castle, baby! Steam grilled!

I bet they're digging up Dave Thomas's corpse to ship off to Gitmo right now.

VOC's are not particulate(solid) matter they are "volatile" hence a gas, think ground level ozone and hydrocarbon fumes that evaporate into the air see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_organic_compound

While cooking may release more VOC's than driving a car, the exhaust from internal combustion engines release far more greenhouse gases such as CO2, CO, and sulfur oxides to name a few.

OK... fast food restaurants release more VOC's than the trucks running on petroleum diesel.. Now what if those trucks where running on Bio-Diesel?
Will this be the end of the tree hugging Bio-Diesel cars?

Hey this is AWESOME! Lets ban fast food restaurants! 2 birds with 1 stone, less pollution, less fatties!!

Seriously, can we ***** do anything anymore without being a danger to the planet? Whats next? Farting is tearing a hole in the ozone layer?

***** off with your pseudo science leftist *****...I will drive my SUV over some seal cubs while my friends cook hamburgers and smoke camel non-filters and love every second of it.

This article should have a offer a cheese to go with all that wine.

Screw it! ***** this planet! Let's build a spaceship and get out of this hellhole of a solar system. I've only been to 1/10 of them, but I can just tell that the other nine will suck too. Or, of course, we can all go veggie head on their asses, eat all the trees, then run out of oxygen, and have to move to pluto. It's your choice.