Lung cancer increasing in Southern women

Lung cancer death rates for women are relatively high in some southern states because of a lack "effective policies" to limit smoking, a U.S. researchers says. Ahmedin Jemal of the American Cancer Society analyzed lung cancer death rates from 1973 through 2007 by age among white women for 23 states for which there were adequate data, using the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results mortality database. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found lung cancer death rates declined continuously by birth year for women born after the 1950s in California, but rates in other states declined less quickly or even increased. California has been aggressive in using public policy to reduce cigarette smoking. It was the first state to establish a comprehensive statewide tobacco control program through increased excise taxes in 1988 and pioneered local government ordinances for smoke-free work places as early as the mid-1970s. The trend in New York followed California, except the decreases were less steep. In contrast, public policies against tobacco use have been weaker in many southern and Midwestern states, particularly among tobacco-growing states in the South, Jemal said. "The dramatic rise in lung cancer death rates in young and middle-aged white women in several Southern states points to a lack of effective policies or interventions, like excise taxes and comprehensive smoking bans, that deter initiation of smoking among teenagers and promote smoking cessation among adults," Jemal said in a statement.