Lung Cancer Alliance - Massachusetts Releases 2nd Annual Report Card on L...( Notes Slight Improvement -- But Still...),Health

Notes Slight Improvement -- But Still Receives Overall Failing Grades

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the second year in a row, Lung Cancer Alliance - Massachusetts (LCA-MA) issued its 2008Report Card on Lung Cancer, an assessment of progress being made in the fight against lung cancer. For 2008, LCA-MA noted a slight improvement -- but overall issued failing grades.

(LOGO: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081016/LCALOGO)

"The good news is that we were able to note a slight improvement from last year's Report Card -- but make no mistake -- the overall grades remain unsatisfactory," said Diane Legg, LCA-MA State Co-Chairman. "We must and can do better for all those living with or at risk for lung cancer in Massachusetts - a disease that remains the most stigmatized, least funded, and ignored of all the leading cancers."

The LCA-MA 2008 Report Card on Lung Cancer grades seven categories to evaluate progress in efforts to eradicate this disease. The Report Card noted a slight improvement with the introduction of first-ever legislation authorizing lung cancer research funding, but acknowledged that overall state public health research funding was still anemic, that stigma and blame remained pervasive, that earlier disease intervention for those at high risk was still lacking, and that too many young Massachusetts men and women were being addicted to tobacco.

"For the second straight year, LCA-MA's 2008 Report Card on Lung Cancer demonstrates that we still have important work to be done if we are going to reverse decades of stigma and neglect too long attached to lung cancer," said JoAnn O'Connor, LCA-MA State Co-Chairman. "I hope that more Massachusetts citizens will take note of this assessment and consider joining our ef
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