Years of nagging are paying off: Progress in the war on cancer

The death rates from cancer are falling faster, according to today's Annual Report to the Nation by the American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute and others. The death rate is falling more than 2% each year, about twice the pace of the previous decade. That means more than 10,000 people's lives have been saved each year.

"Years of nagging and pleading by health officials are finally beginning to pay off, experts say, in smoking cessation and increased use of mammograms, colonoscopies and other screening tests for colorectal and prostate cancer," in Denise Grady's words in today's NY Times.

But "it's still a minority of individuals that undergo screening for colon cancer. If everyone were screened appropriately, these incidence numbers would fall even more dramatically," said Dr. Neal Meropol of the Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Advice: Prevention can work.

Read another prevention story by Denise Grady, or read her source story in today's New York Times.