Cancer to Become World’s Leading Killer by 2010, Experts Predict

Cancer will pass heart disease to become the world’s top killer by 2010, while the number of cancer cases and deaths should double by 2030, international health experts said.

The increasing use of tobacco in developing nations in India and Asia are blamed for the predicted increase in cancer cases, officials said. More than 40 percent of the world’s smokers now live on those two continents.

In 2008, there are expected to be 12 million cancer diagnoses and seven million cancer deaths reported around the world, a number that is predicted to hit 27 million a year with 17 million deaths each year in the next 20 years.

The experts from the American Cancer Society, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and the National Cancer Institute of Mexico released their findings at a press conference held December 9, 2008.

The groups issued a call to action, urging the United States government to help fund cervical cancer vaccinations and to ratify an international tobacco control treaty.

CNN Report

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