A (Sort Of) Use For Pollutants

 
A study by Italian Medical researchers has found that air pollution might protect against the most dangerous type of skin cancer, melanoma.
At first glance you may think thank heavens for us stuffing the air with all our poison over the last 200 years and it is the actual size of the air pollutants that show the most protective effect against the cancer and increased exposure to these air pollutants was associated with a decreased risk of developing melanoma.
Before you go crazy and start spraying deodorant and rip that catalytic converter off your car exhaust, it may be worth reading the rest of the report because it really is giving with one hand and punching you repeatedly on the nose with the other.
Sure the initial reaction is pollutants may protect you from skin cancer but it also increases your chance of dying from respiratory diseases, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer  and increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems as well as links between air pollution and cognitive decline, dementia, and other neurological disorders.
Obviously not being daft enough to fill the air we breathe with things which are detrimental to our health in the first place is the best choice but you know, stupid people and all that so it seems that using high factor sun cream is the next best choice because if the choices are between skin cancer or lung cancer, dying prematurely can put a real crimp in your day.