France, Feb. 5 -- "We want to see widespread lung cancer screening by 2030, and it will start in March with more than 20,000 people eligible for targeted screening," said Rist.

Speaking to Franceinfo for World Cancer Day on Wednesday, the health minister said the pilot would help identify the population most likely to benefit from pre-emptive checks, with a view to making them routine.

"We are really moving towards mass screening, as we do for breast cancer or colon cancer."

Lung cancer is the deadliest form of the disease in France, responsible for some30,000 deaths a year. Most cases are caused by smoking.

With symptoms slow to appear, low survival rates are partly explained by the difficulty of catching lung cancer early. Oneanalys...