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Dana Reeve, Non-Smoker, Succumbs to Lung Cancer

CONTACT:
Paul McIntyre or
Jean Carter
(916) 780-0226

Despite its dubious distinction as being the number one killer among men and women diagnosed with cancer, lung cancer receives relatively little attention or funding. Perhaps that's because a whopping 60 percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer live less than a year, leaving few behind to tell their tale. Or maybe it's because lung cancer, which kills more people each year than breast, colon, and prostate cancer combined, has always been viewed as a smokers' disease.
 
As the death of Dana Reeve, the widow of Christopher Reeve, recently revealed, lung cancer's deadly swath of destruction destroys the lives smokers and non-smokers alike. Reeve, who passed away March 6, 2006 at the age of 44, was a nonsmoker. An actress and singer, she was exposed to secondhand smoke at the music clubs in which she performed throughout her career.
 
Of the more than 170,000 people diagnosed with lung cancer this year, a full 20 percent of the women, and 10 percent of the men will be non-smokers. Secondhand smoke exposure is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States. It kills an estimated 50,000 non-smokers every year.
 
Exposure to secondhand smoke also causes a number of illnesses in children, including four times the incidences of bronchitis, pneumonia, ear aches, colds and respiratory infections. Secondhand smoke has been linked to an increased need for tubes in the ear, and to higher rates of asthma among children and Sudden Infant Death (SIDS) among infants (estimated at between 1,900 and 2,700 deaths annually by the American Lung Association). It has also been shown to increase the risk of cancer later in life.
 
Despite overwhelming evidence of secondhand smoke's ill-effects, a recent study by the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center found evidence of exposure to nicotine in 84 percent of children examined. Twenty percent of California smokers with children under the age of 18 allow smoking in their home.
 
Kids Involuntarily Inhaling Secondhand Smoke (KIISS) has made it their mission to protect children from the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke. They distribute a KIISS Kit, which educates parents and guardians about the dangers of secondhand smoke, and encourages solutions for protecting their children. These kits can be ordered free of charge from KIISS' website at www.kiiss.org.