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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Pollution Can Change Your DNA in 3 Days, Study Suggests


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Breathing in small bits of dust and soot may reprogram your DNA in as little as three days, possibly causing increased rates of lung cancer and other diseases, a May 2009 study says.

Researchers tracked DNA damage in 63 steel-foundry workers in Brescia, Italy (above, a worker cuts steel in Ohio in 2004) who, under their normal factory conditions, were exposed to particulate matter.

Photograph by Ron Schwane/AP