Over the last one hundred years, research has lead to important medical breakthroughs. New treatments and cures have provided a bright light through the darkness of suffering experienced by people who have lung disease.

The American Lung Association®, founded to fight the public health crisis of tuberculosis, has been a leader in developing new techniques to diagnose and manage disease. Both the national American Lung Association® and your local state chapters have been at the forefront of significant scientific discoveries that have lead to a better understanding of a number of diseases.

Hundreds of thousands of people benefit from these advances: the child who can be successful in the classroom and at play because her new asthma medication adequately manages her disease, the man who lives to see his grandchildren born because he was able to beat tuberculosis as a child, or the young woman who breaks her addiction to cigarettes with a nicotine patch. These people, leading happy and healthy lives, are experiencing the results of research.

One area where research has made significant strides is in asthma. In the past twenty years, new treatments and management techniques have dramatically improved the quality of life for those living with asthma. Children who once might have struggled to breathe are attending school and are active in sports due to new medications and management protocols.

Unfortunately, despite these historic strides, asthma has become the leading chronic illness among children. It affects one in every ten children in Washington state, and the incidence of this disease is increasing. The American Lung Association® of the Northwest continues to fight the growing asthma epidemic by advancing the medical discoveries and supporting those advances with educational programs, such as asthma camp.

During the summer of 2001, more than 150 children who have asthma went to asthma camp. They learned how to better manage their asthma and had a chance to participate in the fun and games of summer camp. Those who attend asthma camp each year get to take advantage of our outstanding staff of doctors and nurses who volunteer their time to provide round-the-clock medical supervision for the children.

Even with these advances, there is more work to be done. There is no cure for lung cancer. Effective treatments for diseases, like emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis, that injure lungs beyond repair, still elude us. With the help of dedicated scientists and our volunteers and donors, we'll keep searching for a cure.

1904

The national American Lung Association® is formed as the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis. It is the first volunteer-based health organization in the United States.

1906

American Lung Association® of Washington, is formed.

1929

The research committee of the national Lung Association researches new techniques with x-ray machines to diagnose lung disease

1930s

The newly-developed tuberculin test and new x-ray tests become effective tuberculosis diagnostic tools. Lung Association buses bring these tests to new areas of the United States.

1944

Dr. Selman Waksman, Rutgers University, isolates streptomycin - the first effective chemical weapon against tuberculosis.

1948

The national Lung Association began its medical research and teaching fellowship awards program. Young physicians and students receive funding for lung disease-related research projects.

1950s

Dr. Edith Lincoln discovers that isoniazid prevents serious complications of some types of tuberculosis in children.

1956

The medical research grants program is expanded to include research for a greater number of lung diseases.

1959

Dr. May Ellen Avery, an American Lung Association® research grantee, discovered that the lungs of babies with respiratory distress syndrome lack the fatty substance, surfactant.

1963

One year before the first U.S. Surgeon GeneralÕs report on smoking, the American Lung Association® adopts a three-pronged attack on cigarettes: research, information, and education. The Lung Association is one of the first health organizations in the United States to work against the alarming rise in lung diseases due to tobacco use.

1986

After research determines that price increases reduce youth smoking, the American Lung Association® successfully lobbies Congress to permanently extend the 16-cents-per-pack federal excise tax on cigarettes.

1991

The national Lung Association successfully lobbies Congress to increase funding for lung research programs at the National Institutes of Health and to increase funding to support federal tuberculosis control programs.

1993

Two forms of replacement surfactant therapy for babies with respiratory distress syndrome are approved by the federal government. In mid-1993, research indicates a significant drop (28.4%) in the mortality rate among babies with respiratory distress syndrome.

2001

Research confirms again that price increases reduce youth smoking. The American Lung Association® of Washington sponsors Initiative 773 - increasing the sales tax on cigarettes by 60 cents per pack.