Air Pollution

An estimated 7 million people die each year from causes related to air pollution, with a majority occurring in the Asia-Pacific region. Air pollution levels vary around the world, and the harmful contaminants in the air are not always visible to the naked eye. In an effort to increase understanding about air pollution levels and their harmful effects on public health, the United Nations has designated September 7 the International Day of Clean Air.

• Exposure to air pollution increases the mortality from lung cancer, including in people who have never smoked.  (Hamra 2014) (Eckel 2016) (Ou 2020)
• The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified outdoor air pollution and particulate matter less than 2.5micrograms/meter³ (PM_2.5) as carcinogenic to humans. (Loomis 2013)
  
• Impact of climate change is disproportionally worse on underserved populations. (Shultz 2020)
  
• The Global Burden of Disease study attributed 15% of all lung cancer worldwide to PM_2.  
  

"The impact of climate change is disproportionally worse on underserved populations who contribute the least."
                                                      — Tessum 2021 and Shultz 2020

Extreme Weather & Access to Care

Events such as hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, mud slides, and tornadoes can have devastating consequences on the care of patients with cancer. Extreme weather events can result in:

• Treatment delays or interruptions for the initiation of breast, colorectal, head and neck cancers, and gynecological cancers can result in worse survival outcomes (Man 2018)
• Infrastructure damage due to flooding can result in loss of power, electricity, water, radiotherapy equipment, clinical facilities, medical records and access to staff, as evidenced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. (Man 2018)
• Extreme weather events can cause Interruption of drug supply chains and consequent shortages, as occurred in 2018 when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico which caused the closure of factories that supplied the bulk of small-volume intravenous bags in the continental United States. (Man 2018)
• Damage to communication systems and medical record losses substantially disrupt oncology care. (Man 2018)
• Disruptions to cancer care can lead to a decrease in cancer screening, resulting in more patients presenting with advanced disease and an estimated increase in 10,000 excess deaths from breast or colorectal cancer. (Sharpless 2020)
• Damage to communication systems and medical record losses substantially disrupt oncology care. (Man 2018)
• Disruptions in treatments, such as those that occur in hurricane emergencies, resulted in worse outcomes in patients with Stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer undergoing definitive radiotherapy. (Nogueira 2019)

"The incidence of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is correlated inversely with distance from fracking sites."
                                                                                             — Clark 2022