[barrkel]

But even by what you write, it's not convincing, though, is it? Behind some major countries on a number of common cancers, but in the lead on others. I mean, it's clear that the US is not lagging. But it's not a convincing lead either. And you need to look at the variances. From looking at the per 100K deaths, many of the US leads are in the region of 10%, but the variances between different European countries is much larger than that.

But the US is definitely in the lead on breast cancer. No doubt about that.

[tptacek]

Correlate the cancers in which the US is ahead of 2 out of 3 of France, Germany, and the UK, to the cancers that kill the most people (incidence and mortality). Pull out lung cancer, for which there is a clear causal explanation.

Now compare that result to life expectancy rankings. That's the point I'm making.

[philwelch]

Do Europeans really smoke less than Americans? I was under the impression that the US was unusually anti-smoking.

[barry-cotter]

Cigarette advertising is still legal in the USA right? And a packet of cigarettes costs less than an hours work at minimum wage because the taxes aren't that high, right?

[philwelch]

No, and no. Also, it's invariably illegal to smoke indoors or within 10 feet of a building entrance. And there is constant anti-smoking propaganda. And people on the street will make negative comments about you smoking.