Can you get Lung Cancer from walking up a busy road everyday?

[robynf]

If I wear a scarf round my nose and mouth will it protect me from the car fumes I face everyday? I have to walk up a busy main road everyday and I always smell looads of car fumes. If I wrap a scarf around my nose and mouth will that benefit me in anyway? Or are the particles so small that they can get through that'? Please give me some useful advice as I am extremely worried:S

[cathfromsaron]

all/any pollutants can give you various health problems, but you seem to be doing something about the potential risks!

why not ask your GP for advice on masks, and maybe discuss anxiety too?

cath x

[Jonno21]

Maybe if you lived in Mexico city or somewhere equally as crowded, go to a ike sho or on the internet they have different coloured facemasks with filters which would be better than a scarf and give you peace of mind.

Here.

http://www.google.co....3b0b&biw=1343&bih=606

[missprim]

You could try a cycling mask under your scarf which is ok in this weather but might look a bit strange in Summer.

[Catapa]

Yes, you can get cancer from car fumes and a scarf won't protect you at all. You should know though, that the most contaminated place in such traffic is inside a car.

My recommendation is to cycle on a different route instead of walking alongside a busy street.

[boxtops]

It's low but possible, see this research here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18633326

[karenmac60]

We're all gonna die one way or the other...

[birdie1971]

No. It's highly unlikely. And by highly unlikely, I mean astronomically improbable.

I wouldn't say that you are paranoid. I would say that you have been misinformed by a media that seems to want to scare everybody to death with stories of what is about to strike them dead. Relax. Of all the things that may kill you in today's world, air pollution comes very, very low on the list.