THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF THE PREVENTION OF LUNG-CANCER

The article relates details of the history of research into the causal association of cigarette smoking and lung cancer on the basis of mult idisciplinary studies that have explored the epidemiology, biology, ch emistry, and biochemistry of tobacco carcinogenesis and research in be havioral sciences and health education that has sought to address one of our nation's foremost public health problems. Recalling past and pr esent challenges and achievements in all of these areas, the author th en outlines his vision for addressing this health problem in the futur e. This is laid out for various segments of the research community and for society as a whole, i.e., Cancer Centers and hospitals, epidemiol ogists, laboratory scientists, legislators, educators and behavioral s cientists, and the media. It is proposed that for the current policy i nitiatives in tobacco-related cancer control to succeed, there needs t o be a focus on preventing the initiation of tobacco use among childre n and adolescents. All segments of society can help to achieve this go al. In the nation's research planning, there needs to be a proper bala nce between basic and applied research, including research on and appl ication of preventive principles, because cancer need not be an inevit able consequence of aging but is largely preventable.