Just to make it clear...
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States.
Lung cancer causes 30% of all cancer deaths.
Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer among Caucasians, African-Americans, Asians and Hispanic males.
Lung cancer will kill more people this year than:
breast cancer
prostate cancer
colon cancer
liver cancer
kidney cancer
melanoma...combined
Lung cancer will kill three times as many men as prostate cancer this year.
Lung cancer will kill nearly twice as many women as breast cancer this year.
Over 50% of new lung cancer cases will be diagnosed at a very late stage—Stage IIIb or IV— and only 5% of them will live for 5 years.
Myth: After you stop smoking, your lungs go back to normal in 10 years.
Truth: The lungs never go back to normal. Most former smokers remain at elevated risk.
Current smokers: 35-40% of new lung cancer cases
Former smokers: 50% of new lung cancer cases
Never smoked: 10-15% of new lung cancer cases
source:
Lung Cancer Alliance