As part of an effort to increase awareness of lung cancer and its devastating effects on this state, State Representative Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston) and Dr. John Zerwas (R-Katy) honored the efforts of two local doctors who are battling on the front lines to treat the second leading killer of Americans. Lung cancer is one of the most common and deadly forms of this disease and will kill more people this year than all other cancers combined.

The doctors, Ralph Zinner and Raymond Sawaya, are professors at the University of Texas Health Science Center/MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and are world renowned for their work in treating cancer patients and their clinical research.

Key areas of lung cancer care are still “woefully inadequate”, a report by leading lung cancer experts says.

The UK Lung Cancer Care Coalition, an umbrella group composed of doctors, charities and private health firms, says UK care lags behind Europe.

It says too few patients are receiving treatment, such as chemotherapy or surgery, because of staff shortages.

The government says it already recognises that more needs to be done to improve lung cancer services.

On this day of Ted Kennedy’s passing, I don’t want to take away from the stories of his life and accomplishments. But – since my focus is lung cancer and empowering survivors – I had to share a story I am not seeing in the headlines.

Today Lung Cancer Alliance praised President Obama’s nomination of Dr. Regina Benjamin as U.S. Surgeon General and urged the family physician from Alabama, whose mother died of lung cancer, to change public awareness and public policy on the disease.

Comedian Grace White gave California legislators a serious talk.

The 58-year-old Colfax resident, who is battling stage 4 inoperable lung cancer, addressed the Senate Health Committee urging the passage of SB-600.

“Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. Approximately 25 percent of women and 15 percent of men with lung cancer have never smoked,” White said. “We need SB600 to help us prevent more kids from starting to smoke, help smokers to quit and reduce lung cancer in our state.”

Sweeping legislation to correct long-standing disparities in health care treatment and outcomes also includes the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Program, Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) President & CEO Laurie Fenton Ambrose announced today.

“The goal is to achieve more equitable healthcare services across lines of race, and ethnicity, gender and geography,” said Congresswoman Christensen, who is the only female physician in Congress and who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust.

The federal government can now regulate the amount of nicotine in tobacco products, ban flavorful additives, require every chemical ingredient to be detailed on the label and prohibit deceptive marketing and ads that target the young.

Lung Cancer Alliance President Laurie Fenton-Ambrose said, “This puts us on a whole new track in helping current smokers to quit and in preventing new generations of young people from ever becoming addicted in the first place.”

Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP has won £84,000 in compensation for Mr B, a 67 year old man from Hayes who contracted lung cancer after being exposed to asbestos dust whilst working as a labourer for Cape Building Products Limited in the 1960s.

During his 18 months at Cape Building Products, Mr B was heavily exposed to asbestos dust in the course of his work. His tasks included handling sacks of raw asbestos which he was required to open and empty out.

Signed “a frustrated U.S. citizen,” Stacey Macchiarulo’s letter to President Barack Obama tells a tale that rings true for millions of Americans also shaken to the core by the insurance industry:

How can it be, the Oakwood resident questions, that somebody like her mother who worked hard her entire life, was forced into poverty and bankruptcy when she first was diagnosed with lung cancer?

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly endorsed the U.S. Senate version of the FDA tobacco regulation bill with a 307-97 vote — an emphatic exclamation point for the successful conclusion of a decade long battle.

Lung Cancer Alliance President Laurie Fenton Ambrose called its passage an historic moment in public history.