Trends in mortality for main cancer sites in France between 1950 and 1985 are presented by sex. In the population aged 35-65, where long term trends can most reliably be assessed, an overall 1.1% mean annual increase is observed for males and a 0.6% mean annual decrease is observed for females. For males, this increase in total cancer mortality is mostly due to the sites associated with tobacco and alcohol. The important increase for lung cancer, and lesser increases for bladder, pancreas and kidney cancers are related to the increase in tobacco consumption from 4.7 g per adult per day in 1950 to 6.3 g in 1976. For cancer sites associated with alcohol and tobacco, namely oesophagus, pharynx, larynx, tongue and mouth, mortality is increasing similarly for males and for females, although these cancers are much less frequent among females. For females, the overall moderate decrease is mostly due to the decrease in cervix and stomach cancer mortality, uncompensated by the observed increase in breast cancer; there is no marked increase in lung cancer mortality for women, contrary to what is observed in other Western countries.