India, Sept. 17 -- Pollution is quietly fueling a new wave of Indian cancers. Come the festive season and the onset of winters in India, along with stubble burning practices in Delhi-NCR, and this risk will increase manyfold.

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Shirish Alurkar, senior consultant, medical oncology at HCG Aastha Cancer Centre, Ahmedabad, countered that, though cancer has long been associated with lifestyle factors such as tobacco use, diet, and genetics, a quieter, more insidious driver of India's rising cancer burden is pollution, both indoor and outdoor.

He added, "From the toxic smog blanketing cities to the smoke of cooking stoves in rural homes, environmental pollution is steadily reshaping India's cancer landscape...