News release: “A December 2008 report by the nation’s leading cancer organizations underscores the threat to women’s health from this new wave of cigarette marketing to women and girls. The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer found that while lung cancer death rates are decreasing for men – and overall cancer death rates are decreasing for both men and women – lung cancer death rates have yet to decline among all women. A key reason cited was the sharp increase in smoking initiation among young women and girls during the late 1960s and 1970s, when cigarette brands such as Philip Morris’ Virginia Slims were created for and aggressively marketed to women.”