Air Pollution Causes Cancer Garbage Incineration Ups Death Rate
Metro Vancouver is looking to locate a garbage burner away from the city. Will your town fall for the promises? A new study published in this month’s Lancet Oncology confirms what many of us have suspected – dirty air causes lung cancer. Our lungs are the interface where oxygen passes into our bodies and carbon dioxide passes out. Other substances can move across the lungs’ membranes as well. Many things are suspended in the air besides oxygen and some of them can harm you. Lancet’s study specifically looked at particulate matter in nine European countries. Particle sizes ranged from large – soot to the very tiny – less than 10 microns(less than 10/1000 of a metre). We have many sources of particulate matter in our air. Wood, coal smoke, pollen, dirt, bacteria, viruses. Our bodies are very good at dealing with these unwanted bits. We usually simply breathe them out again or our immune cells destroy them. We cope less well with ultrafine particles. It makes good sense to keep...