Deaths From Lung Cancer In China Up 465% In 30 Years - Xinhua

[hatrack]

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The number of deaths due to lung cancer in China has risen by 465 percent in the past 30 years, an official announced here on Tuesday. Lung cancer has replaced liver cancer to become the top killer among malignant tumors in China, Qi Xiaoqiu, an official with the Ministry of Health said at a press conference on the third national survey on causes of death in China.

In the past three decades, death rates of lung, liver, intestine, breast and bladder cancers have jumped and these cancers are closely linked to environment and life style, he said. Among them, death rates of lung cancer and breast cancer registered the highest increase of 465 percent and 96 percent in the past 30 years, Qi said.

In the meantime, death rates of gullet, stomach, cervical cancers dropped steadily and cervical cancers had the largest decrease rate, he said.

The death rate of both urban and rural Chinese from cancers are higher than the world level, he said. Currently, the death rate of malignant tumors has increased by 83.1 percent over the mid-1970s and by 22.5 percent over the early1990s, ministry statistics showed.

EDIT

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/29/content_8074947.htm

[hogwyld]

1. I guess they're startin to pay a price

for burning all of that coal. I imagine that their population growth will outpace any increase in pollution deaths though.