There is good news to report as we observe World Lung Cancer Day Thursday. Dona Wininsky with the American Lung Association in Wisconsin says lung cancer death rates in the U.S. are down 11.5 percent since 2013. Wininsky says even with the decline, lung cancer remains the number one cancer killer of both men and women in the United States. Wininsky says smoking is not the only cause of lung cancer. “It affects all people. We always say if you have lungs you can get lung cancer. It can be caused by environmental pollution, exposure to second hand smoke, radon in the home, outdoor air pollution, genetics. There are a whole number of factors that can cause a person to have lung cancer,” Wininsky told WFDL news. People diagnosed at early stages of lung cancer are more than four times more likely to survive five years, but currently only 16 perecent of lung cancer cases are diagnosed early.
