Study First to Link Air Pollution to Brain Cancer

"New research has linked air pollution nanoparticles to brain cancer for the first time," reports Damian Carrington.

"The ultra-fine particles (UFPs) are produced by fuel burning, particularly in diesel vehicles, and higher exposures significantly increase people’s chances of getting the deadly cancer," explains Carrington.

Still, brain cancers are rare. Carrington uses a placed-based statistic to make that point: "an increase in pollution exposure roughly equivalent to moving from a quiet city street to a busy one leads to one extra case of brain cancer for every 100,000 people exposed."

The journal Epidemiology published the study. The article includes more details on previous research that helped build to this most recent study's findings.