Smoking accounts for 25% of cancer deaths in France and is by far the leading preventable risk factor for cancer in France and worldwide. In addition to being the primary cause of lung cancer, tobacco significantly increases the risk of many other cancers: oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, pancreas, bladder, kidneys, nasal cavities, sinuses, esophagus, stomach, liver, cervix, myeloid leukemia, colon, rectum, and ovaries. Active and passive smoking can also be a cause of breast cancer. Overall, one in two smokers dies as a result of smoking. Indeed, tobacco smoke contains more than 4,800 chemicals that are toxic and irritating, and 70 of them are carcinogenic (benzene, arsenic, chromium, etc.). Although smoking increases the risk of developing a wide range of conditions such as cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, etc., mortality from lung cancer is considered the most specific indicator of the health effects of smoking. Long considered a male disease, lung cancer was ten times more common in men than in women in the early 1980s. In 2010, the estimated lung cancer mortality rate remained about three times higher among men. This trend can be explained by the smoking rate among women, which has gradually converged with that of men over the past thirty years. Looking more specifically at the trend in lung cancer mortality among people aged 35 to 44, we see that these variations are extremely marked, since the risk of death from lung cancer among men fell by half over the ten-year period between 1997 and 2007 after a period of continuous increase since the 1950s, whereas the risk among women quadrupled between 1984 and 1999 and has since stabilized. The latest results from the 2010 Health Barometer, confirmed by the results of the 2010 Cancer Barometer, show that the prevalence of daily smoking among men aged 15–75 has stabilized at around 32%, raising concerns that the decline in lung cancer rates among this population may be slowing. With regular tobacco use among women on the rise (+3 percentage points between 2005 and 2010), the estimated 7,700 lung cancer deaths in 2010 are likely to increase.[chapter excerpt]