New figures revealing rising rates of several cancers among people under 50 in England underline the urgent need to rethink the age at which women are first invited for routine breast screening, says Woking-based cancer charity Walk the Walk.

Analysis by the World Cancer Research Fund shows increases in seven types of cancer among people under 50 in England between 2001 and 2023, and the number of breast cancer cases stands out dramatically.

In 2023, 8,507 women under the age of 50 were diagnosed with breast cancer in England, up from 6,886 in 2001.

That compares with 2,989 cases of bowel cancer, the next highest number among the seven cancers highlighted.

Walk the Walk is campaigning for the NHS to lower the starting age for routine breast screening from 50 to 40, arguing that women should have the opportunity to detect breast cancer earlier, when treatment can be more effective and potentially less invasive.

Chemotherapy nurse and Walk the Walk clinical ambassador Gemma Reeves has been campaigning alongside the charity to lower the NHS breast screening age to 40.

Gemma took the issue directly to Parliament in a Westminster Hall debate after launching a petition which reached 106,000 signatures.

She said: “These new figures are staggering and exactly why I started my petition to lower the age for breast screening – I couldn’t ignore the increasing number of younger women coming for treatment.

“These are so much more than just figures on a page. These are thousands of women under 50 who never expected to hear the words ‘you have breast cancer’.

“Lowering the starting age for breast screening is about giving women the best possible chance of finding breast cancer early and for it to be treated successfully. These latest figures make me even more determined the breast screening age must be lowered.”