About 10% of cancer cases in Europe are related to contamination in various forms, warned on Monday (27) the European Environment Agency (EEA), adding that most cases are preventable.
“Exposure to air pollution, secondhand smoke, ultraviolet rays, asbestos, chemicals and other contaminants cause more than 10% of cancer cases in Europe,” the European agency said in a statement.
This number could decrease dramatically if existing policies were rigorously acted upon, especially in the fight against contamination, according to the organization.
“All the carcinogenic risks in environmental and professional environments can be reduced,” said Gerardo Sánchez, an expert at the EEA, ahead of the publication of the report, the agency’s first on the relationship between cancer and the environment.
“Cases of cancer caused by the environment and radiation, or by chemical carcinogens, can be reduced to an almost minimal level,” he assured the press.
According to data from the agency, air contamination is responsible for 1% of cases and about 2% of deaths, a rate that rises to 9% for lung cancer cases.
Recent studies have also found “a correlation between long-term exposure to particulates, a major air contaminant, and leukemia among adults and children,” the organization added.
Radon, a natural radioactive gas that can be inhaled in poorly ventilated homes, is believed to be responsible for 2% of cancer cases on the continent.
According to the European agency, ultraviolet rays, of mainly solar and artificial origin, are responsible for about 4% of all cancer cases, in particular melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer that has grown a lot in Europe in recent years. decades.
Some chemicals used in the workplace and released into the environment are also carcinogenic.
Lead, arsenic, chromium, pesticides, bisphenol A and perfluoroalkylated and polyfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) are among the most dangerous to the health of Europeans, as is asbestos, banned in the EU since 2005 and still present in some buildings.
In the EU, 2.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year and 1.3 million die from it.
The continent, which represents only 10% of the world population, concentrates 23% of new cases and 20% of deaths.
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