Today, Tuesday, the European Environment Agency warned that about 10 percent of cancer cases recorded in Europe are linked to various forms of pollution, noting that most of these cases can be avoided.
“Exposure to air pollution and second-hand smoke, as well as ultraviolet radiation, asbestos and some chemicals and other pollutants, are the underlying causes of more than 10 percent of cancer cases in Europe,” the European Agency said in a statement.
This number could drop significantly if the approved policies, specifically those aimed at combating pollution, are strictly implemented, the agency said. “It is possible to reduce all environmental and occupational risks that cause cancer,” said Gerardo Sanchez, an expert with the European Environment Agency, before publishing the report, the agency’s first to examine the link between cancer and the environment.
He said in a statement that “the cases of cancer-related to the environment, for which radiation or carcinogenic chemicals are one of the causes, can be reduced to a small level.”
Agency figures indicate that air pollution is responsible for 1 percent of cancer cases and about 2 percent of related deaths, which rises to 9 percent when we talk about lung cancer.
The European Agency stated that recent studies showed “a relationship between long-term exposure to particulate matter, which is essential air pollutants, and leukaemia in children and adults.”
Radon, a radioactive natural gas that is inhaled especially in poorly ventilated places, is responsible for 2 percent of cancer cases in Europe.
The European Agency pointed out that ultraviolet radiation, which is the main source of the sun but also comes in artificial forms, is responsible for about 4 percent of all cancer cases, especially melanoma, a dangerous type of skin cancer whose incidence has increased dramatically in Europe in recent decades. And some of the chemicals used in the workplace and thrown in nature are carcinogens as well.
Lead, arsenic, chromium, insecticides, bisphenol A, alkylating materials and polyfluorocarbons are among the most dangerous to European health, in addition to asbestos, which has been banned since 2005 in the European Union, while some buildings still contain it.
Annually in the European Union, 2.7 million cases of cancer are recorded, of whom 1.3 die. Europe, which accounts for barely 10 percent of the world’s population, has 23 percent of recent cancer cases and 20 percent of associated deaths.
