By Staff

(AXcess News) Los Angeles - The American Cancer Society released its 2009 scorecard Monday which ranked California lawmakers over their tobacco policies.

Although people often think of cancer breakthroughs being in the realm of the laboratory, public policy has had a significant, beneficial impact on the cancer landscape. For example, California tobacco control policy is widely credited with driving down California's lung cancer rates faster than the rest of the country. Between 1988 and 2007, lung cancer rates in California dropped by 29 percent while rates in the rest of the country dropped by only 7 percent.

"Our success in tobacco control shows that public policy can jumpstart major improvements in cancer control," explained Jim Knox, Vice President for Legislative Advocacy. "There is so much potential through legislation to encourage that kind of success. Policymakers need to harness that power."

Last year, there were only two American Cancer Society supported bills that made it into law. Now mammography facilities must post serious violations of safety standards and the state's breast cancer screening program for low-income women must cover digital mammography in addition to traditional analog mammography. Important bills that perished prior to passage included those to increase the tobacco tax, which would have helped the state budget as well as decrease tobacco use and cancers related to it, and a bill to decrease out-of-pocket costs for oral chemotherapies.

"Almost 15 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed every day of this year in California and each day about 150 people will die from cancer. We have so much work left to do so the American Cancer Society, with the help of our committed volunteers, will continue to fight for legislative victories against cancer," continued Knox.

Source: American Cancer Society