Beijing Olympics pollution controls could cut lung cancer risk

Corvallis (Oregon, US), Feb.8 (ANI): The air pollution control measures that were put in place in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games - if continued - would cut almost in half the lifetime risk of lung cancer for the area's residents from certain inhaled pollutants, a new study concludes.

This might translate to about 10,000 fewer lifetime cases of lung cancer in this large metropolitan area, scientists said.

The findings were published today in Environmental Health Perspectives, a professional journal, by researchers from Oregon State University and Peking University in Beijing.

This is one of the first studies to actually study the health benefits of pollution control strategies in a Chinese population.

This research found that in Beijing, a metropolitan area with 22 million people, the existing level of PAH pollution would lead to about 21,200 lifetime cases of lung cancer, but that would drop to 11,400 cases if pollution controls similar to those imposed during the 2008 Olympics were sustained. (ANI)