> Take Action: Help Pass Tuberculosis Control Legislation

World TB Day is March 24. Please contact your Member of Congress Representative today. Ask that they help eliminate TB by cosponsoring the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act, H.R. 1532.  

 

The Comprehensive TB Elimination Act, H.R. 1532, sponsored by Reps. Gene Green (D-TX), Heather Wilson (R-NM) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), will provide the US Public Health Service with the resources needed to eliminate TB in the US and play a leading role in eradicating the disease globally.

> Take Action: Help Make 2007 the Year FDA Regulation of Tobacco Products Becomes Law

This year we are more hopeful than ever that strong legislation giving the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products will become law.  On Thursday February 15th, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), chair of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Tom Davis (R-VA), reintroduced their strong FDA legislation.

Please take a minute to urge your Member of Congress and Senators to protect the public health and our kids from tobacco products by cosponsoring this legislation.

> Take Action: Funding for Tuberculosis Must be Increased

Each year about 1.7 million people around the world die from tuberculosis (TB). The number of TB cases is increasing worldwide. In the United States, there are thousands of new cases each year. As of 2004, there were 14.6 million cases worldwide. TB is a persistent killer in the world and new strains are making their presence known in the U.S. in a fatal new form. Extensively Drug-resistant tuberculosis, also referred to as Extreme Drug Resistant TB or XDR-TB, has been identified in all regions of the world, including the United States. At this time, XDR-TB is essentially incurable. Therefore, the key to control is prevention. Without proper funding, the United States will be at risk from one of the world’s most infectious diseases, tuberculosis.

> Take Action: Support Pulmonary Rehabilitation Legislation

Every year, millions of Americans suffer from serious lung disease including many older adults who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, is a chronic disease that has been diagnosed in nearly 12 million adults. Pulmonary rehabilitation programs are scientifically proven to improve the health and well being of patients with COPD and other lung diseases.

> Take Action: U.S. Capitol Going Smokefree!

Congratulations! On January 10, 2007, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the Speaker’s Lobby of the U.S. Capitol will be smokefree!  Thanks the 9,000 American Lung Association advocates across the country who signed our “Smokefree U.S. Capitol” petition, no Member of Congress, staff member, page or journalist will have to breathe secondhand smoke when they are in the Speaker’s Lobby. The decision to make the Speaker’s Lobby smokefree is both an important public health victory and a symbolic decision. By making the Speaker’s Lobby smokefree, Speaker Pelosi has ended the days of smoke-filled rooms. 

> Take Action! Join the Smokefree Air 2010 Challenge

Be a part of the American Lung Association Smokefree Air 2010 Challenge and help make your community and every community smokefree! The American Lung Association has issued a challenge to all communities and states:  Be smokefree no later than 2010. Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard that kills an estimated 49,400 people in the U.S. each year.

Since we launched the Smokefree Air 2010 Challenge in 2006, eight states and dozens of cities and towns have gone smokefree.  To date, 16 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have passed comprehensive smokefree laws that include restaurants and bars.  This is tremendous progress.  With your help and our aggressive campaign, we will hit our goal of a Smokefree U.S. by 2010!  But, we can only do it if citizens keep the pressure on their elected officials. Not only do smokefree laws reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, but they also increase the number of people who quit smoking and also discourage kids from starting to smoke.

> Take Action: Help prepare America for the flu season!

Experts have warned that a potential flu pandemic can strike the United States at anytime. A flu pandemic will spread rapidly and easily from person to person, affecting all age groups.  It will cause illness in a high proportion of those infected. We must make sure the United States is better prepared for the flu season regardless of whether a flu pandemic occurs in this year or in several years.

Funds must be available to ensure that we are prepared for influenza outbreaks. Further, please make sure we are ready for any flu pandemics. Leadership is needed to prevent these pandemics. Learn more about how you can help.