Air Pollution Is a Leading Cause of Cancer Worldwide

          The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited data indicating that in 2010, 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide resulted from air pollution, and said there was also convincing evidence it increases the risk of bladder cancer. The risk of air pollution is similar to that of smoking tobacco. The Deputy head of the IARC Dana Loomis said in a statement. "Our task was to evaluate the air everyone breathes rather than focus on specific air pollutants. The results from the reviewed studies point in the same direction: the risk of developing lung cancer is significantly increased in people exposed to air pollution.”

 

Research suggests that exposure levels have risen significantly in some parts of the world, particularly countries with large populations going through rapid industrialization, such as China. IARC reviewed thousands of studies on air pollution tracking populations over decades and other research such as those in which mice exposed to polluted air experienced increased numbers of lung tumors. The newly industrialized countries are the main problems here, while there are still some risks in developed countries like the US. Air pollution, mostly caused by transport, power generation, industrial or agricultural emissions and residential heating and cooking, is already known to raise risks for a wide range of illnesses including respiratory and heart diseases. The way air gets polluted includes diesel engine exhaust, solvents, metals, and dusts. But this is the first time that experts have classified outdoor air pollution as a cause of cancer. There were 7.6 million cancer deaths in 2008 according to the WHO, 1.37 million of which were due to lung cancer. So these 223,000 deaths workout to  3% of cancer deaths and 16% of lung cancer deaths worldwide.

 
However this has been somewhat evident over the years, I personally believe that this report should bring this to the fore mind of American’s  and other world powers to help do things about the crazy amount of air pollution throughout the world. This should help develop smog ratings in some of the larger US cities like LA and San Diego where people can be more careful of if they are inhaling in hazardous gases like CO2. There are already smog forecasts in large cities in other countries like Beijing, where it is more important to view the air forecast than the weather forecast.