Press releases

September 26 2006

Women take stand against Cinderella Cancer 

British women are today being asked to join the fight against the disease which is the biggest cancer killer amongst women in the UK.

Launched today and fronted by actress Dame Judi Dench, Women Against Lung Cancer is the UK’s first charity dedicated to stamping out the illness which claims the lives of 19,000 women annually.

Women Against Lung Cancer has been set up because of the alarming rise in the number of young women who are contracting the disease and aims to raise awareness of the lung cancer, increase funding and tackle issues such as blame and stigma.

Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in the UK – four times as many behind breast and bowel cancer – representing 11 per cent of all new female cases, yet only receives 1.4 per cent of the national cancer research budget.

Women Against Lung Cancer’s first priority will be to put pressure on government to address this chronic under funding.

Said Dame Judi: “The time has come to act – lung cancer has traditionally been seen as a disease of men who smoke but its effect on women clearly has gone unnoticed.

“That’s why we’re calling on mothers, daughters, sisters and friends to sign up to our campaign. I believe women are a powerful force in this country and we need that kind of passion and action to fight this epidemic and prevent further deaths. I will be personally writing to leading women from all walks of life to ask them to sign up and support this campaign.”

Only 26 per cent of women in the UK are alive one year on from diagnosis and twice as many British women are likely to die from lung cancer than the EU average. Within the UK, Scotland remains a lung cancer black spot for women with 44 deaths per 100,000 people compared with 28 per 100,000 people in England.

Dame Gill Oliver, who has over two decades experience of devising and delivering cancer care services will be responsible for the day-to-day direction of the campaign. She said: “It’s vital that women understand just how much this disease can affect them.

“Lung cancer doesn’t have the media or political appeal that breast cancer does – that’s we call it the Cinderella cancer - it gets forgotten. But, 20 per cent of women who get cancer in the UK will get lung cancer, which is why we believe something needs to be done.

“We are also extremely worried by the growing number of children and young women who chose to smoke a 5% increase since 1992 amongst 16-25 year olds. There is a big awareness of the health risks but too many young women are taking up the habit and we need to stop this by offering support and help – not judgement. “

To register you support for the campaign, get involved or to email your MP log onto www.walcuk.org.uk Women Against Lung Cancer is supported by The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, the UK's only dedicated charity to fighting lung cancer.

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NOTES TO EDITOR

Media enquiries: contact Chris Dolan / Julie Cheston at Weber Shandwick PR on 0161 238 9400 or cdolan@webershandwick.com

The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation has over the past 15 years raised over £12m to help fight the disease that 38,000 people are diagnosed with in the UK every year. The charity is also actively campaigning to call on the government to implement serious public health measures to save the health of the nation.