France Faces Cancer Crisis: Calls for National Registry intensify
Marie Charlotte Garin, a prominent voice advocating for a national cancer registry. (@Anthony ravas)
The Urgent Need for Data
France is grappling wiht a meaningful health challenge: cancer. Each year, approximately 157,000 people succumb to the disease, making it the leading cause of premature mortality in the nation. A growing chorus of voices, including researchers, elected officials, patients, and activists, are demanding the creation of a national cancer registry to improve prevention efforts.
Marie-Charlotte Garin, a deputy of the Rhône, is at the forefront of this movement. She co-signed a column with over 90 researchers, elected officials, patients, and activists, urging the French goverment to take immediate action.
The Data Deficit: A Blind Spot in Prevention
The absence of a comprehensive national registry leaves significant gaps in understanding the scope and causes of cancer across France. As the signatories of the column point out, Only 24 % of French people are covered by a cancer register. No data for Île-de-France, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Nice. No follow-up in the most polluted and populated areas.
The World Health Association (WHO) projects a concerning trend,estimating +77 % of new cases by 2050.
This projection underscores the urgency of the situation. Without adequate data, effective prevention strategies are severely hampered. How to act if we don’t even know where and why cancers explode?
the signatories ask, adding, without data, no prevention.
The Call to Action: A National Registry for All
While many European nations have established cancer registries, france lags behind. Advocates are calling for the creation of a national registry that is clear
and covering 100 % of the territory.
Such a registry would enable authorities to locate clusters
of cancer cases, protect exposed populations,
and orient research and care.
In France, the #cancer Kill 157,000 people each year.
This is the first cause of premature mortality.
And yet … no national register to identify all cases.
Result: we advance blindly.
To unroll ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ja0v1jD3TY
— Marie-Charlotte Garin (@MC_Garin) May 6, 2025
The creation of a national cancer registry is not just a matter of data collection; it is indeed a matter of public health and safety. As Marie-Charlotte Garin and her fellow advocates emphasize, It is indeed time to register this bill on the agenda in the assembly. To stop pretending.And finally to look at things.
