Smoking is fashionable again, figures show

The top risks associated with the deaths of both men and women in 2013 globally were blood pressure, smoking, high body mass index and high fasting plasma glucose.

The top risks associated with the deaths of both men and women in 2013 globally were blood pressure, smoking, high body mass index and high fasting plasma glucose.

Published Jul 1, 2015

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London - They were lured to start smoking in their thousands by advertisements that promised to make them look glamorous and independent.

Now record numbers of women are suffering the legacy of 1970s commercials – and tragically are developing lung cancer.

Figures show there are more than 20 000 new cases a year, with rates increasing by a fifth in the last 20 years.

Experts blame attitudes in the 1970s when professional women smoked as a way of appearing attractive and liberated, as well as a means of staying slim.

Many were taken in by advertisements insisting that cigarettes would make them more successful, happier and help keep the weight off.

For example, the slogan for Lucky Strike cigarettes was “Reach For A Lucky Instead Of A Sweet”, while Misty advertisements bore the catchphrase “Slim N Sassy”.

Although smoking rates have fallen in recent years, cases of lung cancer in women are expected to continue to rise because the disease can take many years to develop.

Figures from Cancer Research UK show that there were 20 483 new cases in 2012, the highest since records began in 1979.

And rates have increased by 22 percent since 1993, up from 53 cases per 100 000 to 65 per 100 000.

The new figures also show that lung cancer rates in men have continued to fall since the 1970s down from 110 cases per 100 000 to 55 cases per 100 000.

This is because smoking rates peaked in men in the 1940s, around 30 years earlier than in women, who then became the target of advertising campaigns.

Sadly the illness has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers, and only five percent of patients can expect to live for ten years. This means it is the biggest cancer-killer in the UK, claiming the lives of 16 000 women and 20 000 men every year.

Researchers are now making it their priority to develop new treatments and techniques to diagnose the illness sooner, before it spreads to other organs.

 

Daily Mail

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