crédit photo : ©Fotolia

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a specialised agency of the World Health Organization, announced on Thursday that it classified outdoor air everywhere in the world as carcinogenic. Several experts met in Lyon, France, to analyse studies on thousands of men and women followed over several decades.

In an International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) statement, “experts reported that enough proof exists to be able to state that exposure to air pollution causes lung cancer. They also noted a positive link with an increased risk of bladder cancer”.

For the moment, the results have not made it possible to say if a particular group (men, women, young or old people) was more vulnerable. But Dr Kurt Straif of the IARC said that “those most exposed to polluted air are the most vulnerable”. Next week, IARC will publish its detailed conclusions in the prestigious British medical journal “The Lancet”. For further information, please contact Antoine Magnan, head of the team Immunopathology and Respiratory Diseases and Clinical Director of Pneumology in the Nantes University Hospital and Michel Aubier, co-director of the Inserm unit Physiopathology and Epidemiology of Respiratory Failure. IARC press release (in English)