After decades of stigma, high death rates and neglect, people with or at risk for lung cancer have reason to hope.

The Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act (HR 2112) is the first-ever federal legislation that provides research funding for the most lethal and neglected of all cancers.

Lung Cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer above all others. It kills three times as many men as prostate cancer and twice as many women as breast cancer. It has been declared a national health epidemic.

Yet because of the smoking stigma, people are blamed for the disease, so research funding remains abysmally low and death rates high.

Sixty percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer have either never smoked or quit many years – or decades – earlier. I lost my spouse to this disease, who had not touched a cigarette in 23 years.

This bill begins to finally give lung cancer the attention and funding it deserves.

Lung Cancer Alliance is asking Congressman Mike Thompson to co-sponsor the bill. We ask that you call Thompson’s office (707-226-9898) and ask him to support the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act (HR 2112).

We at Lung Cancer Alliance believe that No One deserves lung cancer.

Gloria Hovde lives in Lower Lake.

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Written by: Gloria Hovde

Published: 09 June 2009