Radiation link in flight attendant's breast cancer, French court finds - BBC News

Former Air France stewardess Sophie Lainault has had her cancer recognised as an occupational disease.

Image source, Getty ImagesByHugh SchofieldParis correspondentPublished4 hours agoA French court has for the first time recognised cosmic radiation as a factor in the breast cancer of a long-serving flight attendant.

Sophie Lainault, a 59 year-old former stewardess on Air France, sought to have her cancer recognised as an occupational disease, brought on by conditions at work.

This has now been confirmed in a landmark court ruling in the southwestern town of Bayonne, which said that cosmic radiation was one of three carcinogenic hazards arising from her profession. The other two were passive smoking and prolonged night work.

Smoking was authorised on Air France flights until 2000.

The decision means that Lainault, who is in remission from her cancer, can take early retirement with any further treatment fully reimbursed by the French health system.