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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Hannah Devlin

Cancer breakthrough is a ‘wake-up’ call on danger of air pollution

London blanketed by smog in 2015.
Study highlights danger urban populations face from air pollution. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty

Scientists have uncovered how air pollution causes lung cancer in groundbreaking research that promises to rewrite our understanding of the disease.

The findings outline how fine particulates contained in car fumes “awaken” dormant mutations in lung cells and tip them into a cancerous state. The work helps explain why so many non-smokers develop lung cancer and is a “wake-up call” about the damaging impact of pollution on human health.

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