News Health & Medicine

Here’s how air pollution may trigger lung cancer

Inhaling tobacco smoke and inhaling air pollution can change DNA in similar ways

A haze hangs over Manhattan. Pollution like this may spark the kinds of DNA mutations that drive lung cancer.

Smog in places like Manhattan, shown here, may spark the kinds of DNA mutations that drive lung cancer.

Artem Vorobiev/Getty Images

By Meghan Rosen

Air pollution may steer lung cells toward cancer ­— even in people who’ve never smoked a cigarette.

People living in high pollution areas may rack up DNA glitches that trigger lung cancer, scientists suggest July 2 in Nature.