Air pollution a leading cause of cancer - U.N. agency | Reuters - 0 views
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The air we breathe is laced with cancer-causing substances and is being officially classified as carcinogenic to humans, the World Health Organization's cancer agency said on Thursday.
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Air pollution, mostly caused by transport, power generation, industrial or agricultural emissions and residential heating and cooking, is already known to raise risks for a wide range of illnesses including respiratory and heart diseases.
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Research suggests that exposure levels have risen significantly in some parts of the world, particularly countries with large populations going through rapid industrialization, such as China.
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This article relates to externalities of production, since air pollution caused by industries and transport emissions is classified to be carcinogenic to humans and raises the risk for illness. The harmful effect the industries make, causes a negative externality upon the third party- the society breathing in polluted air, who indirectly receives an extra cost by the pollution.
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This article states that air pollution is the main cause of cancer. In terms of economics, this means that it is an external cost of production received in consumption - as the process of recovering from cancer is very costly.