Health officials from Beijing have announced that rates of lung cancer are on the rise in Beijing, reports Xinhua News.  In 2011, there were nearly 8,000 new cases of lung cancer, which accounted for approximately one-fifth of all malignant tumor cases that year.  For every 100,000 people, there were 63.09 lung cancer patients in 2011.  In comparison, in 2002, that rate was 39.56 per 100,000 people.

At this time, health officials have not provided a reason for what they think might have caused the rising trend.  Health experts with the Beijing Cancer hospital said lung cancer is highly linked to lifestyle, noting that smoking is the top reason for the disease, followed by passive smoking and environmental pollution, such as air pollution.  They also note that people who have respiratory problems are more likely to develop lung cancer.  Smoking is a well-known and undisputed cause of lung cancer, but the pollution levels in China may also explain the trend.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)  published a report on the connection between air pollution and cancer.  According to the report, air pollution has been linked to several malignancies, including lung cancer, urinary bladder cancer, and acute leukemia.

IARC convened a multidisciplinary panel to develop an approach for evaluating the carcinogenicity of air pollution.  Emissions from motor vehicles, industrial processes, power generation, the household combustion of solid fuel, and other sources contribute to pollution around the world.  Scientists do not yet understand the all of the precise chemical and physical features of air pollution, which vary around the world due to differences in the sources of pollution, climate, and meteorology.  However, they know that it contains specific chemicals known to be carcinogenic to humans.

According to WebMD, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. in both men and women, but it is also one of the most preventable kinds of cancer. At least four out of five cases are associated with cigarette smoking, and the cause-and-effect relationship has been extensively documented in scientific literature. During the 1920s, large numbers of men began to smoke cigarettes, presumably in response to increased advertising by tobacco companies. Twenty years later, the frequency of lung cancer in men climbed sharply. In the 1940s, significantly more women became smokers. Similarly, 20 years later, there was a dramatic rise in lung cancer cases in women.