Maybe but then again we used to burn coal and wood enmasse until the smogs killed many, so that was regulated to clean the air up, motorised carriges replaced horses, it cleaned up the streets but then polluted the air, we used lead in pipes, paint, petrol and childrens figures, then we found out that was bad and lets not forget how 'great' asbestos was until the 80's
All in the recent time frame, think the original excitement of diesel like nuclear being the wonder fuel of the future was thought to be great until the actual problems came to light which only tend to when they get used by many in real world situations, you can test away in the lab but the real world has a habit of only finding the unthought, unseen problems someone in a white coat had not.