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This week, when the World Health Organization added diesel fumes to its list of Group 1 carcinogens — a list that includes asbestos, cigarette smoke and radiation — it put some automakers, as well as advocates of diesel vehicles, on the defensive.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, which issued the findings (PDF) on Tuesday, said its conclusion was based on evidence that included studies of workers exposed in various settings. A study published in 2012 centered on underground miners who relied on diesel equipment in a poorly ventilated work space. The agency did not dismiss the dangers of lower levels of exposure, noting that people “are exposed to diesel exhaust in everyday life, whether through their occupation or through the ambient air.”

Though the fumes and particulate matter that leave the tailpipes of new diesel automobiles bear little resemblance to the substances spewed by machinery operating in a coal mine, questions remain about just how much exposure is too much.

“The major challenge is to address the problems of older diesels,” said Don Anair, a spokesman for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit American watchdog group. “California has been a leader in that regard,” he added. That state’s Air Resources Board identified diesel emissions in 1998 as toxic air contaminants with the potential to cause cancer.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer acknowledged that the amount of particulates and chemicals in the diesel exhaust of newer vehicles had been reduced as a result of tighter emission standards and significant reductions of sulfur content in diesel fuel, but the agency fell well short of applauding this development.

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