Environmental carcinogenesis in haryana, india: a critical comprehensive review of cancer surveillance, multiexposure pathways, and prevention priorities

P. Ravish, Abhishek Sharma, Shivani Sangwan, Mohit Saini

International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2026

Abstract

Haryana combines rapid industrialisation,

intensive agriculture, severe air pollution, groundwater

stress, and uneven occupational and environmental

regulation, creating a plausible setting for cumulative

carcinogenic exposure. This critical comprehensive review

integrates cancer surveillance, Haryana-specific

environmental studies, institutional monitoring,

mechanistic evidence, and international epidemiology while

distinguishing hazard detection from demonstrated local

causation. ICMR-NCRP estimates indicate that annual

incident cancer cases increased from 29,219 in 2020 to

32,513 in 2024. The peer-reviewed Haryana Cancer Atlas

analysis included 36,736 confirmed cancers diagnosed in

2016-2017 from 126 participating centres, supplemented by

eligible records from 28 hospital-based cancer registries,

and identified substantial district and site-specific

variation. The broader administrative atlas reported

42,699 records from 149 sources, illustrating why analytic

and administrative totals should not be conflated. Rohtak

had the highest male all-site age-adjusted incidence rate

(143.9 per 100,000), whereas Gurugram had the highest

female rate (108.2); high head-and-neck cancer rates

among men and district variation in breast, lung, prostate,

and cervical cancer require targeted surveillance but do

not establish environmental causation. Groundwater

monitoring identified nitrate, fluoride, arsenic, and

uranium exceedances, while pesticide residues, industrial

mixtures, ambient…

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