More women dying from lung cancer

THE NUMBER of women dying from lung cancer from smoking is rising sharply in France, while the number of cases in men has halved in a decade.

New research by official health watchdog the Institut de Veille Sanitaire has found that lung cancer deaths among 35 to 54-year-old women are now at a similar level to those in men in the 1950s.

The disease kills 5.3 women in 100,000 each year - a figure that has multiplied by four in the past 15 years, according to the report.

The INVS said anti-smoking campaigns appeared to have worked among men, with male lung cancer deaths falling each year since their peak in 1993.

The report said more price rises were needed - the last major increase was 37% at the end of 2003. It also called for a standard set of tax rules on tobacco sales in the EU to cut down on imports from neighbouring countries.

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