How India's air is destroying lungs: PM2.5, COPD, and the rising cancer tide

Myth 1: Only Delhi has a pollution problem. Fact: Begusarai, Guwahati, Greater Noida, Patna and Lucknow all appear among the world's most polluted cities. Air is a regional system. Pollution from Maharashtra industrial belts travels into central India and the Punjab-Haryana stubble plume reaches eastern UP and Bihar. Pretending the crisis stops at the Delhi border has cost a decade of action.

Myth 2: Wearing a mask outside is enough to stay safe. Fact: A well-fitted N95 cuts inhaled PM2.5 by about 80 percent only when worn continuously and correctly. Children rarely wear them, and PM2.5 also enters through indoor air at homes and schools without purifiers. Personal protection is a stopgap, not a substitute for source reduction.

Myth 3: Lung cancer only happens to smokers. Fact: AIIMS, PGI Chandigarh and CMC Vellore are reporting young, non-smoking lung cancer patients in their twenties and thirties. PM2.5 carries carcinogens deep into the lungs and into the bloodstream. It also drives stroke, low birth weight and stunted lung growth in healthy children far from any cigarette.