A YOUNG actress's petition calling for a lower bowel cancer screening age has been signed by more than 216,000 people.

Lauren Backler, from Seaside, Eastbourne, lost her mother Fiona to the disease last year and believes the age should be lowered from 60 to 50 in England.

The petition has now been formally presented to Parliament by Eastbourne MP Caroline Ansell.

The 22-year-old, who has appeared in the film The Neuropath, said: 'Bowel cancer screening saves lives – it’s as simple as that. It can detect the early stages of cancer, often before symptoms are showing.

'Of everyone who is diagnosed with stage one bowel cancer, 97 per cent survive for at least five years. For all those diagnosed at stage four – only seven per cent survive for five years.

'What more proof is needed that early diagnosis is vital in the fight against this disease?'

Her mother died in March 2015, at the age of just 56, only four months after being diagnosed.

She feels that if the screening age had been at 50 then her mother may have been diagnosed earlier and her life could have been saved.

Caroline Ansell said: '"It was a privilege to present the petition to the speaker calling on the Department of Health to lower the screening age and it’s a privilege to give my continued support to Lauren.

"She is turning her own tragic loss into a potentially life-saving campaign by not only calling for the lower age limit, but also raising much needed awareness of this terrible disease, so ensuring that testing rates rise and more people are diagnosed earlier.

"The campaign to lower the age to 50 continues in the corridors of power and I will be talking to the health minister again very soon to get an update."

The Department of Health has already said that it will raise the issue of a lower bowel cancer screening age with an expert committee after Caroline held a parliamentary debate on the issue earlier this year.

The age of screening for bowel cancer is 50 in Scotland – leading to earlier detection of the disease in many cases.