France has high per capita alcohol consumption, though it has been declining from a peak in 1973, with wine being the most consumed beverage.

More alcohol, more cancer. Simple.

France's tobacco consumption is higher than the European Union average.

More tobacco consumption, more cancer. Simple.

They're surprised? It also has the highest usage of nuclear power and runs nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, perhaps the dirtiest job on earth.

We can pretend that spent nuclear fuel and fuel processing are safe. It just simply isn't true.

Correlation is not causation, but it's certainly an area worth looking at.