How pollution causes lung cancer

By Soline Roy

Posted
on 09/11/2022 at 22:18, Update on 09/11/2022 at 22:18

Researchers have shown, on almost half a million people living in England, South Korea and Taiwan (pictured, Taipei)that exposure to fine particles increases the risk of cancer. GU/Image Source via AFP

At the congress of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), British researchers showed that exposure to air pollution increases the risk.

The link between lung cancer and air pollution was known but the mechanism remained obscure. This is no longer the case with the presentation on Saturday September 10, at the congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Paris, of the work of a team led by P^r Charles Swanton, oncologist at the Francis Crick Institute (London).

Air pollution has been classified since 2013 as a “certain carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, an agency of the World Health Organization). This is due in particular to fine particles (PM2.5, less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter), “capable of penetrating into the bronchi and deep into the lungs, into the alveoli”specifies the D^r Suzette Delaloge, medical oncologist at Gustave-Roussy (Villejuif) and director of the “Interception” program on personalized cancer prevention in people at risk. “The maximum recommended exposure threshold is 25 micrograms (µg) per cubic meter of air in…

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