The cancer crisis in France
France is already the country most affected by cancer: worse still: cancer rates are expected to double in near future.
Cancer: France must find out why it is overexposed (Le Monde)
France ranks among the countries with the highest number of cases of the disease, with incidence rates rising sharply.
In September, a study published in The Lancet even placed France at the top of the list of most affected countries, with 389.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. This top ranking is alarming, especially since it remains largely unexplained.
France currently ranks as one of the countries with the highest cancer incidence rates globally, according to a recent study published in The Lancet, reporting 389.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants—a figure putting France at the very top alongside Monaco. This high incidence is likely driven by a combination of elevated rates of tobacco and alcohol consumption, environmental pollution, and possibly unique national exposures to carcinogens such as cadmium and pesticides. However, it's essential to interpret these rankings with care due to methodological differences: different studies place France as high as first or ninth globally.
The number of new cancer cases in France is projected to double from 216 130 in 1990 to 433 136 in 2023, according to two new studies. The studies show increases of 98% for men and 104% for women, due largely to the growing and ageing population, but also to risks linked to “our behaviour and lifestyles”, says the National Cancer Institute (Institut National du Cancer, INCa; Paris, France) in its 2023 Panorama of Cancers. The risks include tobacco, alcohol, obesity, poor nutrition (!), pollution, and lack of exercise.
A healthy lifestyle could prevent more than 170 000 (40%) new cases of cancer, which is the most common cause of death for men in France and second most for women.
Particularly worrying now is the rise in lung cancer in women caused by smoking and pancreatic cancer. Also on the rise are breast, liver, colorectal, and lip, mouth, and pharynx cancer cases. By contrast, cervical cancer cases dropped by 20% over the same period. For men, there were declines in lip, mouth, and pharynx, colorectal, and lung cancer cases, but increases in prostate, liver, and pancreas cancer cases (although less than that for women). Of particular concern is melanoma among both groups due to greater UV exposure.
This should also be the case for ccancers associated with involuntary exposure to pollutants through the environment and food. While it has been proven that the French population is particularly exposed to cadmium (a carcinogen found in many fertilizers) and pesticides (of which France is one of the world's largest users), the link with overexposure to cancer remains to be clarified.