Fact Check: Are Asbestos and Zinc Linked to Cancer? Prabowo's Claim Examined

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto claimed that many young people are developing lung cancer despite not being smokers, attributing the cases to exposure from zinc and asbestos roofing materials that contain cancer-causing substances."Young people are already getting lung cancer even though they do not smoke. Where does it come from? From rust, from asbestos, from various chemicals," Prabowo said during the inauguration of the revitalization of Semarang Tawang Station in Semarang, Central Java, on Thursday, July 30, 2026. The speech was broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel.Prabowo urged the public to return to traditional roofing materials such as palm fiber, thatch, or clay tiles, saying that zinc roofing was not originally part of Indonesian architecture."Originally, Indonesians did not use zinc. If necessary, we should return to using palm fiber, return to using thatch.