- Cancer Death Rate in US Drops 25 Percent From Peak in 1991: Bloomberg News by Laurie McGinley—The cancer death rate in the United States has dropped by 25 percent since its 1991 peak, resulting in 2 million fewer cancer deaths than if the rate had stayed the same, the American Cancer Society said Thursday in a new report. The group attributed the decrease largely to reductions in smoking and improvements in the early detection and treatment of cancer. But there remains a significant gender gap: The cancer death rate is 40 percent higher for men than women, and the incidence of cancer is 20 percent higher in men.
- Best Preventive Care? Get Vaccines, and Don't Smoke: The Star Tribune by Jeremy Olson—Researchers in Bloomington, Ind., have found that tobacco counseling and pediatric immunizations outrank other preventive services in cost-effectiveness and the potential to save lives. The research findings, sponsored in part by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, could influence how doctors across the country conduct thousands of regular patient visits each year.
- Smoking Costs the World Economy $1 Trillion per Year, World Health Organization Says Washington Post by Amy Wang——Smoking and its side effects cost the world's economies more than $1 trillion and kill about 6 million people each year—with deaths expected to rise by more than a third by 2030, according to a new report from the World Health Organization and the National Cancer Institute. Those losses exceed annual global revenue from tobacco taxes, estimated to be $269 billion in 2013–14, according to the report released Tuesday. Of that, less than $1 billion was invested in tobacco control. The massive study called smoking one of the largest causes of preventable premature death in the world. And unless countries around the world begin putting more tobacco control policies in place, it warned, the ballooning consequences will become not just a global public health issue but an economic issue.