It has now become widely recognized that pollution is having incredibly negative and disastrous effects on the environment and the people within them. Recently, China implemented new regulations due to the heavy amounts of smog that was present in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the surge in awareness on this topic has come too late for one little girl.
An eight year-old living in the heavily populated village of Huaxi in the Jiangsu Province of Eastern China has just become one of the youngest individuals to be diagnosed with lung cancer due to pollution. Just last month, the World Health Organization issued the warning that they had now identified pollution as a leading cause of cancer in humans. It was soon after this that Chinese officials adopted new rules which were applied so that there would be a considerable reduction in the amount of smog being produced in the heavily populated cities.
The shocking announcement of lung cancer being present in a child so young has shocked and saddened many scientists as it has never before been diagnosed in children as a direct result of pollution. The health issue that has been studied the most as having the strongest correlation to atmospheric pollutants has previously been cardiovascular disease.
Scientists are hoping that this unfortunate occurrence will bring even more awareness to the issue of pollutants and cause a greater focus on how carbon emissions can be reduced. Undoubtedly, in areas that are so heavily populated, this issue is paramount to the ability of humans to live free of health problems caused by pollution.