Peter Jennings - in the U.S. lung cancer death rates have fallen since he revealed his fatal disease..

April 8, 2010 - It was five years ago tonight (April 5th) that Peter Jennings announced to us all that he had been diagnosed with [lung] cancer. Lung cancer death rates have fallen since the anchor revealed his fatal illness.

"I have learned in the last couple of days that I have lung cancer," he said. "Yes, I was a smoker until about twenty years ago. And I was weak and I smoked after 9/11."

While lung cancer remains the most common fatal cancer -- 160,000 Americans die from it every year -- the number of Americans dying from lung cancer is decreasing more rapidly than for any other cancer. It's due almost entirely to reductions in smoking.

While 20 percent of Americans still smoke,the smoking rate among the young is at its lowest ever. According to the CDC, 23 percent of high school kids smoked in 2005. By 2008, it was down to 20 percent.

2010 as the “Year of the Lung.”

Reference: Lung Cancer Rates Drop Since Peter Jennings' Death Since Jennings Was Diagnosed In 2005, More Help, More Laws by SUSAN SCHWARTZ and HANNA SIEGEL, abc World News, 4/5/2010.