You Cannot Be A Non-Smoker In Delhi: Shocking Case Of Cancer Will Send Shivers Down Your Spine

In a shocking case that is set to send shivers down the spines of the residents of the national capital, a 29-year-old non-smoker has been diagnosed with fourth stage lung cancer and the pollution of the city is being suspected as the cause behind it.

The patient, whose identity has been protected, is said to be a resident of Ghazipur, which is one of the most polluted regions in the country being located as it is next to a landfill site.

Dr Arvind Kumar, the chairperson of the Lung Care Foundation in Delhi said that during the checkup of the patient it was found that she had lung cancer but the medical fraternity was surprised to learn that the woman is a non-smoker.

bccl

¡°It is a shocking case for us too. Not only is the woman a non-smoker but also there are no smokers in her family. This leaves us with no option but to consider that her cancer is a result of the polluted air in the city,¡± Kumar, who is also a chest surgeon at Ganga Ram Hospital here, told India Times.

Kumar said that although the patient lived in a very polluted area of Delhi, the air knows no boundaries and maintained that when it blows it carries pollutants along with it and can leave its footprints anywhere.

He contended that one cannot afford to be a non-smoker if he/she is residing in Delhi as smoke from 5-20 cigarettes is present in Delhi¡¯s air.

bccl

India falls in the shameful list of countries with the highest number of deaths due to air pollution, according to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which estimates seven million people are killed every year due to air pollution while non-fatal effects include irregular heartbeats, aggravated asthma and decreased lung function.

Further according to the AirVisual and Greenpeace index, which was released in March this year, Seven of the world's 10 worst polluted cities are in India. New Delhi, which is home to more than 20 million people, was ranked at 11, making it the world's most polluted capital, even ahead of Dhaka and Kabul.

So is outdoor air pollution a carcinogen,or a cancer-causing agent?

bccl

The answer is yes, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) which classified outdoor air pollution as a cancer-causing agent in 2013 itself but air pollution continues to increase in many parts of the world.

¡°The air we breathe is filled with cancer-causing substances¡­ Outdoor air pollution is not only a major environmental risk to health in general, it is the most important environmental cancer killer due to the large number of people exposed,¡± Kurt Straif, PhD, and the then head of the IARC Monographs Section had quipped while releasing the report in 2013.

Environment bodies and civil rights groups from India have repeatedly raised the issue of health impacts of severe air pollution in Delhi at national and international fore while the state and central governments too have shown alacrity towards the issue but no concrete solution to tackle it has been devised so far.

bccl

¡°The government should stop being on a denial mode. Every time that something like this is brought out to the public the government says that we do not have authentic case studies and data to comment upon whereas it is already there. The health hazards of pollution is at its worst right now and it is only increasing with every passing day,¡± Shambhavi Shukla, Research associate, Clean Air and Sustainable Mobility programme, Centre for Science and Environment told India Times.

She maintained that there is no meeting between the policies on paper and the implementation on ground, blaming the ¡°weak enforcement mechanism¡± for the unabated rise of air pollution in the national capital.

Asked how long would it take Delhi to tackle the health hazards rising directly because of air pollution, Shukla found herself at a loss of words, saying only, ¡°That is a big question mark right now¡±.