Health

Lung Cancer Rates Drop in California

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 31, 2002 / 8:40 AM EST / CBS

The incidence of lung cancer has plunged in California in the past 10 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Experts credit the decrease with the state’s tough stance against smokers. CBS Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports on the program and its results.

The CDC study reports that in just a decade, lung cancer rates in California have dropped 14%.

"The fact that lung cancer is falling faster here than in the rest of the country shows the program reduces the number of people smoking and the incidences of disease," says Stanton Glantz, an anti-smoking advocate and professor at the University of California at San Francisco. "There are people who are alive today who would be dead otherwise."

It all started in 1988 when California voters passed a proposition to add a 25-cent per pack tax on tobacco products. Two years ago, that was increased another 50 cents. Researchers say the price of smoking caused many to stop.

The tax money was used to fund the nation's most comprehensive anti-smoking campaign of television ads and educational programs. Experts say the campaign worked because it was large, very aggressive, went after tobacco smokers, demonized the tobacco industry and wasn't just focused on kids.

The government study also found that since the launch of California's program, the number of adults who smoked decreased from 22.8% in 1988 to 18% in 1999.

One tobacco company spokesperson said the report's findings are "worthwhile." Health officials call them "powerful proof" of what works against tobacco and only hope that California's success can be duplicated across the country.