Health & Fitness - Air pollutants may cause lung cancer

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Air pollutants may cause lung cancer

PHILADELPHIA (UPI) -- A previously unrecognized group of air pollutants exposes the average person up to 300 times more free radicals daily than one cigarette, U.S. researchers say.

H. Barry Dellinger of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge says the discovery could help explain the long-standing medical mystery of why non-smokers develop tobacco-related diseases such as lung cancer.

"Free radicals from tobacco smoke have long been suspected of having extremely harmful effects on the body," Dellinger said in a statement.

"Based on our work, we now know that free radicals similar to those in cigarettes are also found in airborne fine particles and potentially can cause many of the same life-threatening conditions. This is a staggering, but not unbelievable result, when one considers all of the diseases in the world that cannot currently be attributed to a specific origin."

The newly detected molecules, which Dellinger terms persistent free radicals, or PFRs, form on airborne nanoparticles and other fine particle residues as gases cool in smokestacks, automotive exhaust pipes and household chimneys. Unlike other atmospheric free radicals, PFRs can linger in the air and travel great distances.

The findings were presented at the 236th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 08/18/2008

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