WHO cancer verdict likely to sharpen exhaust emissions focus

By Categories: NewsPublished On: Thursday 17 October 2013

32_whoA pronouncement by the World Health Organisation that general outdoor air pollution can cause a range of human cancers is likely to refocus attention on engine exhaust emissions at both global and local levels.

Research by the United Nations’ health agency centred on countries that have undergone recent and rapid industrialsation with a consequent large growth in air pollution (such as China) has revealed an increase in lung and bladder cancers. Air pollution is also linked to an increased risk of heart disease.

The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said both general outdoor air pollution and particulate matter would now be classified among its Group One human carcinogens. The IARC now claims that air pollution caused about 223,000 deaths from lung cancer around the world in 2010.

This decision means that general air pollution, caused not just by engine exhaust fumes, but also by a wide range of human and natural activity ranging from heavy industry to domestic cooking, is now ranked as a Group One health risk alongside asbestos, plutonium, silica dust, ultraviolet radiation and tobacco smoke.

Many within a cash-strapped transport industry will be hoping that the inevitable efforts to curtail exhaust pollution from heavy vehicles as a result of the report will focus on bringing older vehicles up to modern standards across the world, and not on introducing more stringent standards post-Euro 6 on new vehicles sold in mature markets such as North America and Europe.