[Role of cancer registries]

The first Cancer Registries were created in 1975 in France. Their ulterior development and their scientific production have been furthered by the apparition from 1986 under the aegis of the Health Ministry and of the INSERM, of a National Population Registry Committee. Cancer Registries have seriously contributed to a better knowledge of the cancer problem in our country and to describe the french specificities, in particular the importance of the mouth and pharynx cancers. They insure both a monitoring and an alert role; they also contribute to the medical supervision of the Chernobyl accident effects. French registries play a very active role concerning clinical research. They participate to many European studies of health care evaluation. In other respects, many etiological studies have been realized about professional risks of cancer, risks linked with nutritional habits, and on the etiologic role of the Tamoxifen. Finally, certain registries have created DNA banks. If nowadays their role in health planning remains modest, they very actively contribute in evaluating screening actions of breast, cervix and large bowel cancers. They also attracted the attention of Health Authorities on the cervix cancer screening's incoherencies. They evaluate the pilot project of the breast cancer and the registry of the Côte d'Or country evaluates the efficacity of a randomized colo rectal mass screening study. The main difficulties met by the registries are linked with the development of laws protecting more and more the individual freedoms, making it harder and harder the registration exhaustive character.