PARIS: The World Health Organisation's cancer
research agency on Tuesday classified diesel engine exhaust as cancer-causing,
and urged action to reduce human exposure to it.
"Diesel
engine exhaust causes lung cancer in humans," said Christopher Portier,
chairman of a working group at the WHO's International Agency for Research on
Cancer (IARC).
There
was also a "positive association" with an increased risk of bladder
cancer, said the UN body.
"Large
populations are exposed to diesel exhaust in everyday life, whether through
their occupation or through the ambient air," said a statement.
People
are exposed to the exhaust gases of diesel cars, trains, ships and power
generators.
"Given
the additional health impacts from diesel particulates, exposure to this mixture
of chemicals should be reduced worldwide," said Portier.
In
1988, the IARC had classified diesel exhaust as "probably"
carcinogenic.
Portier's
group also concluded on Tuesday that petrol, or gasoline, exhaust was possibly
carcinogenic, a finding unchanged from its previous assessment in 1989.
-
AFP/de
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