New Delhi, March 3 -- In India, all smoking scenes in a film are accompanied with the statutory warning as smoking causes lung cancer. However, the latest study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, published in February in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal, found that lung cancer is on the rise among those who have never smoked a single cigarette in their lives. A primary cause for this? Air pollution.

The study stated that lung cancer among non-smokers is the fifth highest cause of cancer deaths worldwide now. This finding is particularly alarming for India, where air pollution is rising unabated, and multiple Indian cities consistently feature in 'top 10 most polluted cities in the world' listicles.

"This research...