Dr Weil; Breast cancer and Air Pollution

Breast Cancer and Air Pollution
Here's another noteworthy study from Canada: this one may show a possible link between breast cancer risk and air pollution. Researchers from McGill University Health Centre mapped air pollution in Montreal by monitoring levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a by-product of vehicular traffic. The investigators then charted the home addresses of women diagnosed with post-menopausal breast cancer in 1996-97. The maps indicated that breast cancer incidence was higher in areas where air pollution was higher. What's more, they saw that the risk of breast cancer increased by about 25 percent with every increase of NO2 by five parts per billion. The conclusion: women living in the areas with the highest levels of pollution were almost twice as likely to develop breast cancer as those living in the least polluted areas. The researchers stressed that NO2 itself doesn't cause breast cancer. It is only a "marker" for all the other pollutants associated with automobile traffic. While the study doesn't prove that air pollution causes breast cancer, it certainly suggests a need for further investigation.