"Exposure to air pollution, passive smoking, ultraviolet rays, asbestos, some chemicals and other pollutants are responsible for more than 10% of cancer cases in Europe," the organisation said in a statement.

This number could however decrease drastically if the existing policies are subject to a rigorous update, namely in the fight against pollution.

"All environmental and occupational carcinogenic risks can be reduced," said Gerardo Sanchez, an EEA expert, of the document, the agency's first on the relationship between cancer and the environment.

"Cancers determined by the environment and due to radiation or chemical carcinogens can be reduced to an almost negligible level," he declared during a press conference.

According to AEA data, air pollution is responsible for one percent of cases and two percent of deaths, a percentage that rises to nine percent in the case of lung cancer.

Recent studies have also found "a correlation between long-term exposure to particulates, a major air pollutant, and leukemia among adults and children," the agency said.

Radon, a natural radioactive gas that can be inhaled, particularly in poorly ventilated homes, is considered responsible for two percent of cancer cases.

According to the Agency, ultraviolet rays - mainly from the sun, but also artificially - are responsible for around four percent of all cancer cases, in particular melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer that has risen sharply in Europe in recent years.

Some chemicals used in the workplace and released into the environment are also carcinogenic.

Lead, arsenic, chromium, pesticides, bisphenol A and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), used among other applications in food, are among the most dangerous for the health of Europeans, as is asbestos, which is banned in the European Union (EU) since 2005, but still present in several buildings.

In the EU, every year 2.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer, of which 1.3 million die. Europe, which accounts for about 10% of the world's population, has 23% of new cases and 20% of deaths.