Sobering facts on lung cancer

For up-to-date information about lung cancer, you can contact the Thomas G. Labrecque Foundation. The foundation was founded in 2002 by the Labrecque family in honor of Tom Labrecque, former chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank. Mr. Labrecque, a non-smoker, died of lung cancer.

The Thomas G. Labrecque Foundation is committed to preventing lung cancer through education and research. Funds raised go to the Labrecque Fund for Lung Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The foundation's major fund-raising activity is the TGL Classic, an annual 4-mile run/1.7-mile health walk (this year on April 24 in New York).

Here are some facts about lung cancer, from the foundation's Web site:

• Lung cancer is the No. 1 killer among both men and women in the U.S.
• More Americans die each year from lung cancer than from breast, prostate, ovarian, and colorectal cancers combined.
• Lung cancer accounts for about 28 percent of all cancer deaths.
• More than 50 percent of those newly diagnosed with lung cancer are former smokers or those who have never smoked.
• Over the past three decades, the incidence of lung cancer among women increased more than 500 percent, and the number of associated deaths increased 600 percent.
• There is no FDA-approved screening test for lung cancer.
• Every three minutes another person is diagnosed with lung cancer, and each hour 18 people will die from it.