Jacksonville resident Sheris Fogarty enjoyed one of her last Marlboro Lights on the Fourth of July. Between the $1.34 per pack state tax increase that went into effect July 1 and rising health concerns, Fogarty has decided her days of smoking have come to an end. “I have been meaning to quit for years but the tax increase was the last straw,” she said. “I will not pay $5 a pack.” Many smokers, like Fogarty, have become quite bitter over ... Jump to full article >>

Lung cancer assessment allays some concerns about how patients interpret results, researchers say Online genetic testing for lung cancer appears to offer some benefits to patients, according to U.S. researchers who evaluated the use of an online test among 44 smokers. “Up until now we have had a clear model for genetic testing. You see a professional genetics counselor, undergo a battery of tests and that professional helps you interpret ... Jump to full article >>

ScienceDaily (June 9, 2009) — A lung cancer treatment that inhibits nicotine receptors was shown to double survival time in mice, according to Italian researchers. The results of the early phase animal model study were reported in the June 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Changes in genes encoding nicotine receptors are strongly associated not only with the tendency to smoke, but with susceptibility t ... Jump to full article >>

June 8 (Bloomberg) — Colorectal cancer rates are rising in adults younger than 50 with the biggest jump, more than 5 percent, recorded in those ages 20 to 29, a study found. People older than age 50 began getting tested routinely for the disease in the mid-1980s, leading to a 2.8 percent yearly decline from 1998 to 2005 in adult men overall, according to the American Cancer Society report. Younger Americans, who make up 9 percent of the 1 ... Jump to full article >>

ATLANTA — The U.S. cancer death rate fell again in 2006, a new analysis shows, continuing a slow downward trend that experts attribute to declines in smoking, earlier detection and better treatment. About 560,000 people died of cancer that year, according to an American Cancer Society report released Wednesday. The new numbers show the death rate fell by less than 2 percent, but since that decline was better than the previous year, the can ... Jump to full article >>

The Department of Health and Human Service’s (DHHS) 1982 report to Congress on the health consequences of smoking presents a comprehensive evaluation of the relationship between cigarette smoking and cancer. It identifies cigarette smoking as the major single cause of cancer mortality in the United States (1). Since 1937 cancer has been the second most frequent cause of death in the United States and will account for an estimated 430,000 d ... Jump to full article >>