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Legacy Commends Brigham and Women's Hospital and Lung Cancer Alliance for Detailed Report on Womean and Lung Cancer

4/26/2010

Report Provides New Insight into Gender Issues and Lung Cancer

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report released today by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Lung Cancer Alliance, Out of Shadows: Women and Lung Cancer, offers an in-depth look at our nation’s deadliest cancer.

Legacy is encouraged by the potential that this report has to elevate the conversation about this public health threat. Despite what many believe, lung cancer kills more women each year than breast cancer and other gynecological cancers combined.

Reports like this one, which detail the facts and trends related to the disease, are what is needed to increase resources for research and education about lung cancer.

While most women diagnosed with lung cancer are smokers or former smokers, this report states that 20 percent of women diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked. Secondhand smoke, environmental, as well as genetic and hormonal factors, can all contribute to the incidence of lung cancer. What is surprising and troubling is that non-smoking women appear to be two to three times more likely to develop the disease than non-smoking men.

We encourage the public health community to rally around this report and utilize its findings to continue to elevate lung cancer as a priority. We must work together to increase research, screening and treatment resources for this deadly disease.

Legacy is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the national public health organization helps American live longer, healthier lives. Legacy develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth^®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as having contributed to significant declines in youth smoking; EX^®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; and research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.legacyforhealth.org/.

Legacy is equipped with a VideoLink ReadyCam™ television studio system, providing journalists with faster, easier access to the nation’s leading tobacco prevention and cessation experts. From this in-house broadcast studio, Legacy can offer immediate access to its experts to comment on breaking news, new research publications, or any news related to youth smoking prevention, adult quit smoking programs, or any issue related to smoking. The studio is connected directly to the Vyvx fiber network and is always available for live or pre-taped interviews. To arrange an interview, please contact Julia Cartwright at 202-454-5596.

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Contact: Julia Cartwright, 202-454-5596, jcartwright@legacyforhealth.org