A French court has for the first time recognized cosmic radiation as a contributing occupational factor in a flight attendant's breast cancer, alongside passive smoking and years of night work.[346117] The landmark ruling could open the door to similar claims from other aircrew, as research continues to link long-term high-altitude flying with elevated exposure to radiation-related cancers.[346117] According to a study at the Harvard Medical School in the US, flight attendants and pilots had the highest level of radiation-related cancer deaths among more than 500 different professions.[346117][210715] About 6.9% of deaths among flight attendants and 6.7% of deaths among pilots were from radiation-related cancers, according to the analysis.[346117][210715] A former Air France flight attendant, Sophie Lainault, sought to have her cancer recognized as an occupational disease, brought on by conditions at work.[346117] The court ruling in the southwestern town of Bayonne confirmed that cosmic radiation was one of three carcinogenic hazards arising from her profession.[346117] Lainault clocked up 12,600 flight hours between 1989 and 2019, with more than half of these being at night.[346117] Many long-distance high-altitude flights from Paris would have taken her near the North Pole, where exposure to radiation from space is the most intense.[346117]