City air air pollution carcinogenic

World Health Organization (WHO) classifies air pollution as a Group 1 carcinogen

18/10/2013

Carcinogenic air pollution! That an increased air pollution for the health can bring massive disadvantages, is most people aware. How far-reaching these are, the World Health Organization (WHO) now makes clear with their basic classification of air pollution as a Group 1 carcinogen. Based on a report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the WHO concludes that there is sufficient evidence of the carcinogenic effects of air pollution. Particulate matter was also classified as a group 1 carcinogen in a separate analysis.

The IARC, based in the French city of Lyon, has presented a WHO assessment of air pollution, which is likely to pique residents of large, heavily smog-hit cities. The experts conclude that exposure to particulate matter and air pollutants causes a significant increase in lung cancer risk. According to the WHO, this applies in principle to all regions of the world, even if geographically significant differences are detectable and the influence of the seasons on air pollution plays a decisive role here.

Carcinogenic air pollution also in European cities
According to the WHO, 223,000 people worldwide suffer from lung cancer each year due to air pollution. This would have the scientists of the IARC based on the data of the so-called „Global Burden of Disease Study“ confirmed from the year 2010. While around half of these deaths are in China and East Asia, a recent report from the European Environment Agency has shown that as many as 10 out of every ten urban residents in the European Union are also exposed to air pollutants in concentrations deemed harmful by the WHO. As a result, the prenatal development of children is also affected, according to the European Environment Agency. Even in Western European cities, the fine dust and / or ozone concentration - despite environmental zones - is often in the health-damaging area. The air pollution is now classified as officially carcinogenic, but is new. The carcinogenic effects of air pollution are attributed to the mixture of individual carcinogens. These include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon black, titanium dioxide, talc, diesel and other vehicle emissions, and nitroarenes. (Fp)

Picture: Günter Havlena