TAIPEI–Air pollution is largely responsible for an increase in the number of lung cancer cases in Taiwan in recent years, a doctor said Tuesday.
The latest statistics released Tuesday by the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) show that 11,692 people were diagnosed with lung cancer in 2012, which represented a 6 percent spike from the previous year. The increase among women was 11 percent, the data showed.
According to the HPA, smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke are both risk factors for lung cancer, while air pollution and exposure to cooking fumes can also cause lung cancer.
Tsai Chun-ming, director of the Division of Thoracic Oncology at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, however, said that the most direct cause of lung cancer is related to environmental factors such as air pollution and he urged the government to pay more attention to the problem.
Tsai also said that in recent years, the incidence of lung cancer has risen among people in the 30-40 age group, and in many cases, the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body by the time it is diagnosed.
According to the new statistics, the most common cancers in Taiwan are colon, lung, liver, breast and oral cancers, followed by prostate, gastric, skin, thyroid and esophageal cancers.
It is the first time that thyroid cancer has been included in the list of the 10 most prevalent types in Taiwan.
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