16 June 2025
Lung cancer and winter smog. The warnings recur.
Pulmonologist and former UKC director Mirko Stanetić describes a dramatic increase in patients with lung cancer and warns about winter smog. The interview is linked with air-pollution reports from 2023 and 2025.
Editorial summary
In his written Nezavisne interview of 16 June 2025, Stanetić discusses patient numbers in clinical practice. He identifies smoking as the largest individual risk, and discusses reducing air-pollution exposure, early detection and improved diagnosis as part of the explanation for the observed increase.
On 19 December 2023, BLMojGrad reports IQAir readings from that time. On 9 December 2025, Gerila describes recurring pollution using PurpleAir; the assessment of inaction belongs to its author. On 18 December 2025, Euronews reports an index of 479 at 19:00. These are different dates and networks, not one comparable annual series.
IARC/WHO classifies outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic to humans. That general finding does not establish how much a particular boiler house contributes to disease in Banja Luka. The interview is not a local incidence registry either.
The initiative asks: when a healthcare institution warns about pollution’s consequences, how is that standard applied to its own heating, beside its patients? We call for measurements, permits and expert comparison of solutions with the lowest local emissions. A statement that a new boiler uses pellets does not itself establish that the cleanest available option was chosen.
WHO’s overview of wood and coal heating warns that combustion contributes to air pollution. This supports technical comparison of systems, rather than replacing measurements of a specific installation. The City’s January 2026 response about monitoring and plans is linked to this dossier.
„ono što najviše zabrinjava jeste dramatičan porast broja pacijenata s karcinomom pluća“
English translation“what is most concerning is the dramatic increase in the number of patients with lung cancer”
Thematic review, 2023–2025. The card date is the interview date. Index readings are historical and are not concentrations in µg/m³. No data establish that this boiler house caused the increase in cancer; the Clinic’s inspection order and measurements were not directly reviewed.
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This entry’s sources
Source titles retain their original form. Quotations on the Cyrillic site are transliterated without changing the wording; the original is linked at the source. Reprints of the same story are not independent confirmations.
The channel, title, description and date were checked on YouTube. The same publisher’s public written interview is used for the verbatim quotation; the video is neither downloaded nor embedded.
Content checked: 20 October 2026The written interview was read in the browser. Alongside more patients, the speaker discusses smoking, winter smog, early detection and improved diagnosis partly contributing to the observed increase. It is not an incidence registry or a finding about one boiler house.
Content checked: 20 October 2026The article gives IQAir index values of 198 and 207 at the time. These are dated index snapshots, not current measurements, an annual average or concentrations in µg/m³.
Content checked: 20 October 2026An authored commentary accompanying PurpleAir data. Assessments of the authorities’ response remain the author’s views; rankings are limited by the network’s coverage and snapshot time.
Content checked: 20 October 2026Published on 18 December 2025 at 20:18, reporting an index of 479 at 19:00. The index is not presented as an annual level, mass concentration or current conditions.
Content checked: 20 October 2026General scientific context: outdoor air pollution is classified as carcinogenic to humans. The source does not establish the Clinic boiler house’s contribution to exposure or disease in Banja Luka.
Content checked: 20 October 2026The official publication overview concerning emissions from wood and coal heating was reviewed. General context for heating choices, not a technical inspection, measurement or ranking of the Clinic’s specific boilers.
Content checked: 20 October 2026Have an addition or correction?
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