Lung Cancer Risks

"In 1930 the death rate from lung cancer among men was less than 5 per 100,000 population per year. By 1950 it had quintupled to more than 20; today it is above 70." -- From "Cigarette Century", American Heritage magazine Dec., 1992

The CDC in November 1993 said lung cancer death rates increased from 13 to 50 per 100,000 population from1950 to 1990, a sevenfold increase for women and a fourfold jump for men.

Specifically:

In 1950, the death rate from lung cancer among white women was 4.9, but it climbed to 32.1 in 1990.

For black women, the lung cancer death rate soared from 3.8 to 32.

75.6 of every 100,000 men and 31.8 of every100,000 women died of lung cancer in 1990

"The continued increase in lung cancer death rates primarily reflect spatterns of cigarette smoking throughout this century," the CDC reported.

Smoking among white American men, for example, peaked at about 67 percent in the 1940s and 1950s.

Smoking among women peaked at about 44 percent in the1960s.

Female Lung Cancer Death Rates. Deaths per 100,000 Women: Smokefree Smoker 1960-64 11.7 23.9 1965-68 12.7 36.5 1969-72 12.2 54.1 1982-86 12.1 130.4

--from Smokefree Educational Services --note that the years' segments vary.

The New York Times, in an editorial urging Edolphus Towns of New York City (a member of the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment) to vote yes on the Smoke-Free Environment Act, said 505 per 100,000 African Americans contract lung cancer, compared with 79 per 100,000 whites." -- from Tobacco BBS

China. 1993: lung cancer deaths are 15.1 per 100,000 overall, and 11.6 per 100,000 in the countryside, according to the official "Health News."

Tobacco.org