Air Pollution – Leading Cause of Lung Cancer

Although it may cause mass-panic, the specialists claim that the air that surrounds us is filled with chemicals that could cause cancer to people and they classify it as being carcinogenic for humans. The sad truth is that in this case there is nothing for average people to do to protect their health.

Worrisome Data

According to official information, in 2010, 223.000 people died because of lung cancer which results from air pollution. In the same time there appears to be some evidence according to which there is also an increase in case of bladder cancer as well.

Things that you should know

Although the effects of air pollution can vary according to the place that people live in, the side effects of this threat are something like the effects of secondary tobacco smoke. The main purpose of the study has been to assess the properties of the air that people breathe in and not to focus on given kinds of pollutants.

The Findings

The specialists claim that all the results point in the same direction. According to them the people who are exposed to air pollution have increased chances of being affected by different kinds of cancer. Air pollution is mostly caused by power generation, transport, agricultural and industrial emissions, cooking and heating. The effects that these pollutants can have include heart and respiratory diseases.

Global Results

According to the studies in the field, in some parts of the world the pollution has increased dramatically. This is usually the case of regions where industrialization has experienced fast growth, such as China. The researches have assessed studies that tracked air pollution and population over a longer period of time. In the same time they also took into consideration the results of the studies performed with the help of mice that have been exposed to different kinds of pollutants.

Cancer Causing Substances

Air contains a lot of different pollutants and those belonging to the group of carcinogenic substances include asbestos, silica dust, plutonium, tobacco smoke, and ultraviolet radiation. Sadly many of these are not regulated and there is almost no way to correctly assess them.

As you can see, no matter how much you care for yourself, there is no way for you protect yourself against everything that surrounds you. It might be time to raise awareness regarding this problem to make people understand that this is a global problem that concerns all of us.