HEALTH WARNINGS

PETROL AND DIESEL CARS ARE BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH AND THE PLANET

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OIL SPILLS KILL MARINE LIFE - And the fumes from car exhausts kills us slowly when we burn it and release the carcinogens into the atmosphere to create smogs.

Cars that emit carcinogenic greenhouse gases or sooty particulates should carry a government health warning. It is amazing that they do not, and that there have been no Erin Brockovich type class actions against the oil and car companies that led us to believe it was safe to drive in machines that convert fossil fuels to toxic gases.

Fossil fuels kill, it is as simple as that. Governments have known about this for as long as they have known about the link between tobacco and lung cancer.

COWBOY POLITICS - The Malboro Man character - used from 1954 to 1999 in magazine, television and billboard adverts - was portrayed in a natural setting with only a cigarette. It was initially conceived by Leo Burnett as a way to popularize filtered cigarettes, which at the time were considered a feminine commodity.

Winfield said that he wore his own clothes for shoots and never wore make-up. The Oklahoma native was one of the last Marlboro Men alive. Some were authentic cowboys like him while others were actors.

Other ex-faces of the tobacco brand include David Millar, who died of emphysema in 1987, and David McLean, who died of lung cancer in 1995. Another who pushed the product, Wayne McLaren, died before his 52nd birthday in 1992 and Dick Hammer - better known for his role as Captain Hammer in the TV show Emergency! - passed away from lung cancer in 1999, aged 69.

Eric Lawson who played the iconic cigarette-puffing cowboy during the late 1970s passed away aged 72 from respiratory failure last January. The Marlboro Man was scrapped in the late Nineties, when state governments banned the use of humans or cartoons in U.S. tobacco advertisements. Winfield was born on July 30, 1929, in Little Kansas, Oklahoma.

HIGH END USER ADDICTION

The United States has less than 5% of the world's population, but uses more than 25% of the world's supply of fossil fuels derived from oil. It is odds on they will have the highest incidence of cancer related diseases. President Donald Trump and other G20 world leaders are sure to be considering ways of curing their nation's addiction to oil, before they overdose and find the cancer taking a hold in greater numbers. Remember Hinkley, California and PG&E.

Air pollution levels tend to be higher in UK towns and cities. So why would anyone live there? The answer to that is they need the work and the money - so are prepared to accept the risk of a shorter life and painful death. And of course it costs more to live in the country, where there are no affordable houses. Councils like Wealden make sure of that.

In 2013, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) confirmed that outdoor air pollution is a cause of cancer. Tiny dust-like particles just millionths of a metre wide, called ‘particulate matter’, make up a part of outdoor air pollution. The smallest particles known as PM10 and PM2.5 are linked to lung cancers caused by pollution. It is not fully understood how these particles can damage DNA in cells and cause cancer.

Air pollution is a killer and the level of toxins can lead to several health conditions. Apart from severe respiratory conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular problems and hypertension, stroke, impaired mental health, anxiety, low birth weight babies, pre-term delivery and depression, air pollution can also be linked to cancer.

Pollutants in the air are absorbed into the circulatory system and pumped all around the body. They can also get deposited on soil, water, and other natural sources, increasing human exposure. In a recent meta-analysis, it was found that exposure to the main air pollutants is associated with increased mortality from all cancers1. For instance, radon, which is a radioactive gas, that can accumulate indoors is one of the leading risk factors for lung cancer.

How Much Does it Raise Risk? 

The role that air pollution plays in lung cancer risk varies with several factors. Overall, Global Burden of Disease Project data estimated that in 2010, air pollution resulted in 3.2 million deaths globally, 223,000 of which were due to lung cancer.

Urban vs. Rural 

Studies of geographical differences in the risk of lung cancer reveal that lung cancer is more common in urban areas and less common in rural areas, and this is to be expected.

Other Cancers Associated With Air Pollution 

Air pollution as now been implicated not only as a cause of lung cancer, but a cause of bladder cancer as well.

Other Risks of Air Pollution 

In addition to lung cancer, air pollution has been implicated in heart disease, asthma, COPD, and the chance of dying overall.

Defining Air Pollution 

It's clear that air pollution is an important risk factor for lung cancer, but what exactly is it in air pollution that causes the damage that can lead to cancer?

There are two primary types of outdoor air pollution.

Ozone

Particle pollution: It's thought that particle pollution is most important as far as being a risk factor for lung cancer. Air born particles can be comprised of both chemical and biological matter and include both solid and liquid particles.

Sources

Sources of the compounds found in air pollution include vehicle exhaust, coal burning for heat or cooking, forest fires, diesel exhaust, power plants, wood stoves, and emissions from industrial and agricultural sources. Components can include both inorganic (metals) and organic chemicals, soil, and dust.

Particle Size and Risk 

The size of particles in air pollution is very important in their role in cancer. It is the small particles (those less than 2.5 microns in diameter and less) that are of most concern. These particles cannot be seen by the human eye.

Larger particles are usually trapped in the mouth or nasal passages, or by cilia (the tiny hair like structures) in the larger airways. From there, they can be removed by coughing.

Mechanisms That Could Lead to Cancer 

Cancer begins when a series of mutations in the DNA in a cell lead that cell to grow out of control.

Inflammation is thought to contribute to cancer. Any time a cell divides there is a small chance that a mistake will occur (a mutation or other alternation) in the DNA of the cell. Inflammation can lead to increased cell division. Studies have also shown that exposure to air pollution can cause "oxidative stress," that is, damage to the cells of the body caused by oxidation.

Many components in air pollution may directly damage DNA, causing the mutations and other genetic changes that can start a cell on the pathway to become a cancer cell.

Knowing Your Risk 

The first step in reducing risk is to understand if you are at risk. Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency offers a tool called AirNow. With this tool, you learn about the air quality in your area based on your zip code.

Guidelines put forward by the World Health Organization define the following as the upper limits of exposure based on particle size:

PM2.5 : 10 μg/m3 annual mean 25 μg/m3 24-hour mean

PM10 : 20 μg/m3 annual mean 50 μg/m3 24-hour mean

The formation of smog is hazardous to your health especially if you live in a big sunny city.

The Formation of Smog

Photochemical smog (or just smog for short) is a term used to describe air pollution that is a result of the interaction of sunlight with certain chemicals in the atmosphere. One of the primary components of photochemical smog is ozone. While ozone in the stratosphere protects earth from harmful UV radiation, ozone on the ground is hazardous to human health. Ground-level ozone is formed when vehicle emissions containing nitrogen oxides (primarily from vehicle exhaust) and volatile organic compounds (from paints, solvents, and fuel evaporation) interact in the presence of sunlight. Therefore, some of the sunniest cities are also some of the most polluted.

Smog and Your Health 

According to the American Lung Association, your lungs and heart can be permanently affected by air pollution and smog. While the young and the elderly are particularly susceptible to the effects of pollution, anyone with both short and long-term exposure can suffer ill health effects. Problems include shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, bronchitis, pneumonia, inflammation of pulmonary tissues, heart attacks, lung cancer, increased asthma-related symptoms, fatigue, heart palpitations, and even premature aging of the lungs and death.

Finding the link

Although a clear connection is yet to be established between air pollution and cancer, there are two possible mechanisms for how exposure can lead to it. On one hand, the oxidative stress caused by pollutants can cause DNA damage. These reactive oxygen species such as sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide are generated in response to the particulate matter in air. Undue oxidative stress has further been linked to cell proliferation, genetic instability, and mutations.

The second mechanism could possibly involve inflammation. In a study, it was found that in-haled gaseous and particulate pollutants trigger an increase in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the body. This increases the risk of gastric cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Thus, inflammation can result in mortality due to cancer over time in exposed individuals.

USA

Lung cancer is the #1 cancer killer of both men and women in the U.S. When you think of risk factors for lung cancer, what comes to mind? Most of us think about the risk associated with smoking cigarettes, but did you know that air pollution can also cause lung cancer? Overwhelming evidence shows that particle pollution in the outdoor air we breathe—like that coming from vehicle exhaust, coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources—can cause lung cancer. 

LINKS & REFERENCE

https://cancerstatisticscenter.cancer.org/#!/state/California

https://www.lung.org/about-us/blog/2016/06/lung-cancer-and-pollution.html

https://doctor.ndtv.com/cancer/world-cancer-day-can-air-pollution-be-linked-to-cancer-our-expert-tells-2171604

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-smog-3444125

https://www.verywellhealth.com/air-pollution-and-lung-cancer-2249413

https://airnow.gov/

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/air-pollution-radon-gas-and-cancer/how-can-air-pollution-cause-cancer

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