New Report: France's unhealthy statistics

The Guardian UK Paris dispatch
France's unhealthy statistics
Monday October 27, 2003

A new report has shattered the image of France being a healthy nation despite its fondness for drinking and smoking. Amelia Gentleman explains

For decades, scientists have tried to explain the so-called "French Paradox" - how a country seemingly dedicated to drinking, smoking and fatty gastronomic eating habits has remained so healthy.
Now the optimistic vision of a population able to indulge with impunity has been exploded by new research into European cancer levels.

The findings reveal that the widespread perception of the French as a healthy nation is rapidly becoming outdated.

A government study, published this month, showed that France's male population has the highest level of cancer-related death of any country in the EU. Scientists concluded that the soaring death rate was directly attributable to the excessive consumption of tobacco and alcohol.

Figures showed that 20% more French men die from cancer each year than British, while Sweden has the EU's lowest male mortality rate from cancer in the EU, with 196 deaths per 100,000 compared to France's 283.3.

According to figures collated from 1999, the most recent year for which statistics are available, France has a far larger number of deaths from mouth, lip, throat, liver and lung cancers than neighbouring countries: a clear indication of the disease's roots in unhealthy lifestyles.

"France's poor position in terms of male cancer deaths can be explained largely by the high levels of deaths from lung cancer, throat and mouth cancers and liver cancer," the report's authors concluded.

"We know that this type of cancer is closely linked to two risk factors: excessive alcohol consumption and smoking."

Although fewer women are dying from cancer in France, the report warned that this figure is set to rise in the near future unless the government takes action to stem increasing numbers of female smokers.

France's capacity to prevent the onset of cancer remains very weak but, because of its advanced health system, those suffering from cancer in France tend to survive for longer than people elsewhere once they have been diagnosed.

While the increase in the number of deaths can partly be explained by France's ageing population, the results of the latest research have alarmed both the government and France's medical community.

"This report shows very clearly how France is trailing in its cancer prevention methods. In France we have the worst preventative system, particularly in relation to smoking," Thierry Philip, president of the national cancer committee, wrote this week.

"We are not good at preventing alcoholism, even if these cancer rates are less catastrophic than the smoking-related cancers. Nor are we very good at preventing intestinal cancers by encouraging a greater consumption of fruits and vegetables.

"While we are bad at prevention, we are good at treating cancer. The study shows that it's better to live in Britain if you don't want to develop lung cancer. But if a British citizen develops this illness, they would be well advised to go to France for treatment."

It is only relatively recently that the French government has started to launch concerted, hard-hitting campaigns highlighting the dangers of smoking.

With astounding optimism, the health minister, Jean-Francois Mattei, announced earlier this spring that his ultimate aim was to see France become a country without any smokers.

The president, Jacques Chirac - himself a reformed smoker - highlighted the reduction of cancer rates as one of the main goals of his five-year presidency.

Moving towards this aim, the government has begun a dramatic series of cigarette tax hikes, attempting to do in the space of one year what the British authorities have done over the course of a decade.

Last week, the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes went up by 20%, going from €3.90 (£2.70) to €4.60, and triggering a one-day strike by most of France's tobacconists.

By mid-2004, the price will have gone up to around €5, making French cigarettes among the most expensive in Europe.

Bolder warnings of the dangers of smoking must now be printed across large areas of every tobacco packet. In response, several French fashion magazines this month featured newly-available packet-sized containers, decorated with pretty pictures, to disguise the alarming messages.

Cancer is the main cause of premature (before the age of 65) death on the continent, and kills around 960,000 Europeans every year.