Don't breathe this stuff (if you can)

 

A recent medical study linked particulate matter of 2.5 micron size or smaller, which is not something that you should breathe if you can avoid it, to increased incidence rates of head and neck cancer.

Here is one of the articles discussing the study.

Air pollution linked to head and neck cancer risk

"Study overview

A recent study investigated the link between air pollution and rising HNC rates, using lag models over periods of 0 to 20 years to account for the time lapse between exposure and disease onset.

Data came from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (2002–2012) and county-level PM2.5 exposure data (1981–2016). Researchers adjusted for demographic and lifestyle factors like smoking and alcohol consumption to isolate the impact of PM2.5.

Key findings

Increased HNC Risk: Higher PM2.5 levels were consistently associated with an increased risk of HNC across all lag periods. The strongest link was found at a 5-year lag, with a 24% higher risk. Zero and 20-year lag periods showed 16% and 15% higher risks, respectively."

So, don't breathe it. And it would be a very good thing if we could move people that live near where it is thickest away from it. That would be environmental justice.