Cancer checks 'vital for men'

Young men needlessly risk their lives by failing to take the threat of testicular cancer seriously, experts warned yesterday.

Only a quarter of younger men check themselves for lumps and other symptoms at least once a month.

The figure dropped to a fifth for 16 to 24-year-olds, while half this age group never checked themselves at all, a survey found.

More than a third of men aged 45 to 54 checked their testicles monthly.

Only one in eleven younger single men were worried about the disease - even though it was the cancer most likely to affect them, the survey for Macmillan Cancer Relief showed. Rates have doubled since 1979 to about 2,000 new cases a year.

Peter Cardy, of Macmillan Cancer Relief, said checking was vital as early diagnosis helped sufferers such as snooker's Jimmy White beat the disease.