Why does the report emphasize lung cancer and tobacco smoking?
Lung cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer site, and is one of the top four incidence sites for each racial and ethnic group. Lung cancer accounts for 28 percent of all cancer deaths each year and about 14 percent of new cancer cases. Historically, lung cancer has been a key factor driving overall cancer trends, and it continues to do so. As much as 90 percent of all lung cancer is caused by tobacco smoke, which includes cigarettes, pipes, cigars, and second-hand smoke. The prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults has declined over the past 25 years, but this trend has stalled during the past four to five years. At the same time, the number of high school students smoking cigarettes has increased during the 1990s, and unless this trend can be reversed, the lung cancer rates that are currently declining may increase again. There has been much attention given in recent years at the state and local levels to the effects of tobacco use and efforts to effectively control it, e
