Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, February 28 (Reporter Liu Xia) British scientists conducted a retrospective analysis of 27 studies, revealing a worrying link between air pollution and cancer.
Analysis reports linking air pollution to cancers such as breast and prostate cancer.
Long-term exposure to air pollution increases the risk of breast cancer by 45% and the risk of prostate cancer by 20% to 28%.
The relevant paper was published in the latest issue of the journal Anti-Cancer Research.
In addition, the report also pointed out that compared with people who are not exposed to air pollution, people exposed to air pollution have an 80% increased risk of dying from breast cancer; and a 22% increased risk of dying from various types of cancer.
Professor Kofa Mokbel, the leader of the latest study and a famous British breast surgeon, said that air pollution is an important cancer risk factor along with smoking, obesity and alcohol.
The research team selected these 27 studies from hundreds of peer-reviewed publications.
These studies investigate the role of air pollution on human disease, with many involving millions of patients and decades of follow-up.
Of particular concern, the report says, is particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), tiny pollutants that come from exhaust, manufacturing, cooking, cigarettes and e-cigarettes.
They travel into the lungs and then into the bloodstream, where they circulate throughout the body.
PM2.5 causes inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which are known cancer risk factors.
In addition, PM2.5 can damage hormone-producing glands throughout the body, which is particularly bad for breast and prostate cancers, both of which may be driven by hormones.
The researchers highlighted that other cancers linked to exposure to PM2.5 include stomach, lung, bladder, bowel, ovary and uterine cancer.
E-cigarettes are also unsafe, with growing evidence showing that they deliver PM2.5 directly to the lungs.