The American Lung Association of Minnesota is one of the oldest voluntary health organizations in the country. Our mission has expanded to meet the challenges to lung health that have emerged over the years. When ALAMN was founded in 1903, tuberculosis was the great scourge of our state. More people died from TB than from any other disease--one out of ten Minnesotans. They wasted away by the thousands, and died in agony. ALAMN lead the fight against TB, providing mobile x-ray units that traveled around the state screening for TB and providing education on prevention and treatment. Today, that early battle has come full circle, as TB stages a comeback, especially among immigrants from countries where TB incidence can be 30 times higher than in the U.S. The faces are different, but the fear and the suffering are the same.

When cigarette smoking came into fashion, the fight against lung disease expanded its focus to include the evils of tobacco. What once was considered a harmless habit was exposed for what it is: an agent of sickness and death. ALAMN has been a major force in educating Minnesotans about the dangers of smoking and providing programs to help those who smoke to quit. For the 40,000 Minnesotans who suffer from advanced lung disease, whose families stand by helplessly as they struggle for breath, the American Lung Association provides support groups and caring staff to help them cope. And for our young people, who have taken up smoking in alarming numbers as a result of the manipulations of the tobacco companies, the Target Market program helps teens fight back, targeting the tobacco companies that target them.

Now that asthma and allergies have reached epidemic proportions, we have new challenges before us. We will need to increase our outreach significantly if we are to stem the tide of asthma, which now affects one in five families in our state. Between 1995 and 2000, the number of children with asthma in this country nearly doubled. Across the nation, asthma causes children to miss more than 10 million school days annually. Asthma also cuts promising young lives short, as happened to one of our former campers last year, Walter Tessmer, and to a young high school student in the Twin Cities, Kyle Lagoon, who died recently in an auto accident triggered by an acute asthma episode. Our asthma camps let children with asthma enjoy the lifetime memory of a summer camping experience, while learning how to manage their disease. The asthma inhaler bill we championed that was just signed into law will allow children with asthma to carry their inhalers with them in school. Our Minnesota Asthma Coalition is a new forum to bring together interested groups and individuals from across the state to enhance the quality of life for Minnesotans with asthma.

But we can’t stop there. We have to look to the future, to the pollutants lurking in our skies, our homes, our schools, our workplaces that will contribute to tomorrow’s asthma, to tomorrow’s lung disease. Sulfur, benzene, secondhand smoke, mold, radon, volatile organic chemicals are some of the new bad guys, and we need to find new ways to fight them. It’s no coincidence that asthma and allergy rates have skyrocketed as our outdoor and indoor environments have become increasingly polluted. Just this summer, in fact, we posted record ozone levels in the Twin Cities, which posed a risk to those with compromised lungs. We urge drivers to choose cleaner fuels and vehicles, so Minnesotans of tomorrow can breathe. We teach builders and the public how to construct healthier homes and schools so the children of tomorrow can breathe.