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Some cancer deaths 'set to halve by 2020'
The number of deaths from three cancers - breast, prostate and bowel - are set to almost halve by the end of the decade, figures show. However, data from Macmillan Cancer Support found the lung cancer mortality rate showed little sign of slowing.
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Call for plain cigarette packaging after new cancer data
Plain cigarette packaging should be introduced to help lower the amount of people dying from lung cancer, a leading health charity has said.
Macmillan Cancer Support made the renewed call for the reintroduction of the controversial policy, amid a Government review into the effectiveness of plain packaging.
Read more: Cigarettes plain packet review
Chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, Ciaran Devane said:
Deaths from three common cancers will 'almost halve'
The number of people dying from three common cancers - breast, prostate and bowel - is expected to almost halve by the end of the decade, according to findings from a leading health charity.
Over a third, 36%, of breast cancer sufferers will succumb to the disease, a 61% drop in the mortality rate from 1992, Macmillian Cancer Support found.
A further 39% of people with bowel cancer would die, down from 67% in 1992.
However, the lung cancer mortality rate remains high, with 76% of patients expected to die from the disease, compared to 91% in 1992.
Professor Jane Maher, chief medical officer of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "People diagnosed with three of the four most common cancers are more likely to survive but GPs need more support to help them diagnose lung cancer earlier."