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Pollution

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Air pollution or smoking: Which is the greater cancer risk?

Tobacco smoke is just one of many carcinogens floating around in our atmosphere today but yet it takes the blame for the massive increase in reported cases of cancer of all types as well as many other kinds of illness. Despite a steady decline in tobacco smoking since the 1950's cancer related illness has increased 50% or more (depending on whose research article you read). Here in the UK, cancer research organisations are constantly bombarding us with tv adverts asking for a donation of 10 a month because "One in three of us will contract cancer in our lifetime".Simple logic says that if smoking were responsible for such a large part of this then the problem will go away now because smoking has been almost banned in most western countries. The horrible truth is that it wont. You only need to surf the web a little to find some of the dreadful carcinogenic substances that are all around us in the air we breathe and realise that air pollution is the major contributor to rising cancer rates and will continue to exacerbate all health problems until our atmosphere gets a clean up.

Here in the UK, where I live, our National Health Service has been conducting an aggressive, arrogant and unyielding campaign against smoking for years. They have spent a huge amount of time and money on this project but they have not been able to find the money to upgrade eight hundred obsolete hospital incinerators and appear to be totally unconcerned about the health risks they are causing. Hospital Incinerators are used to dispose of biological waste, human body parts, urine bags, faeces bags, etc., all wrapped up in plastic. The waste is burnt because there would be a risk of disease if the parts were otherwise disposed of. The incinerator is supposed to burn the waste at 1000 C and have special flue mechanisms to retain all exhaust until properly combusted. The eight hundred old National Health Service hospital incinerators don't reach this standard and as a result Dioxins, Furans and heavy metals are released into the atmosphere. Dioxins and Furans are carcinogens and if you wonder about the effects of heavy metals just look up the story of cadmium and Minnemarta bay! . Should you live downwind of one of the eight hundred sub standard hospital incinerators in this country you could be breathing in this lot and none the wiser.

Another good one to look up while you surf the web is Diesel Exhaust Particulates. Diesel powered

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