Global Smoke

Female smokers have come a long way, baby, indeed. A report in J.A.M.A. warns that the extraordinary increase in lung-cancer deaths among U.S. women may soon be repeated in Asia and Africa, where taboos against women's smoking are weakening. The authors call for antismoking campaigns and for including more women in clinical studies, to better understand apparent gender differences in the disease. Unraveling that mechanism, the researchers stress, could ultimately help both men and women.