|
1904
|
National
Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, the first
nationwide, voluntary health organization aimed at conquering a specific
disease, was founded.
|
|
1907
|
Dr. Joseph
Wales, realizing that the small sanatorium on the Brandywine
River in Delaware where he worked was down to its
last dollar, wrote to his cousin, Emily Bissell, asking for help in raising
the $300 he and his fellow physicians needed to keep the sanatorium open.
In response, Emily Bissell designed the first American Christmas Seal and
borrowed $40 to have 50,000 of them printed. Before the Christmas season
was over she had raised not the $300 she had for but $3000.
|
|
1915
|
The National
Association joined the Modern Health Crusade that took tuberculosis
associations into the nation's schools in a vastly ingenious an successful master plan of health of education.
|
|
1920
|
The
National Association embarked on a research program that was to become
truly significant in its scope and influence. Representative of the myriad
of scientific refinements and improvements were those affecting the X-ray
and tuberculin test.
|
|
1929
|
The
research committee of the National Association began supporting
investigations into various improved X-ray machines and techniques. A
consultation improved on X-ray was established and, in cooperation with
commercial manufacturers, equipment and techniques were radically changed.
|
|
1930
to 1940s
|
The tuberculin
test and the X-ray became twin tools of diagnosis. The tuberculosis
associations, joined with health departments and the U.S. Public Health
Services, bought and took them to where people were in order to conduct
testing and education. In Cleveland,
for example, workers in 318 war plants had been X-rayed by March, 1944. And
on VE Day, World War II, residents of New York City's Harlem
celebrated by lining up to get a free chest X-ray.
|
|
1948
|
The
National Association began its medical research and teaching fellowships
award program that targeted young physicians or students in related fields
at the pre-and post-doctoral level. Some of the country's leading
specialists in pulmonary medicine received their start through the National
Association's fellowship program.
|
|
1950s
|
Dr.
Edith Lincoln, a National Tuberculosis Association grantee, observed and
reported that isoniazid prevented the development
of serious complications in children such as miliary
tuberculosis and tuberculous meningitis. Public
Heath Service trials underscored isoniazid's
important role as a prophylactic agent for household contacts of
tuberculosis patients.
|
|
1956
|
The
National Association, finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on
the eradication of tuberculosis without paying attention to such related
illnesses as asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and many other
respiratory diseases, expanded its education and program goals to include
all lung disease and the elimination of the causes of these diseases.
It gave special
grants to help determine the practicality and procedures of pulmonary
function screening tests given on a mass scale to apparently normal
population groups.
Medical fellowships
were awarded to doctors to study -- and then to practice and teach -- in
the field of respiratory diseases. The research grants which for decades
had increased knowledge about tuberculosis were now expanded to include
research in other lung cripplers and in pulmonary physiology.
Equipment to
establish or expand pulmonary disease field tackling air pollution's
relationship to ever increasing respiratory distress and the dangers of
cigarette smoking.
|
|
1959
|
May
Ellen Avery, M.D., an ALA
research grantee, discovered that the lungs of
babies with respiratory distress syndrome lack the fatty substance,
surfactant. For her continued investigative work in the field she was
awarded the National Medal of Science in 1991.
|
|
1960
|
The
National Association Board of Directors issued a warning on smoking as a policy
statement: "Cigarette smoking is a major cause of lung cancer."
The National Association funded six pilot projects in mass pulmonary
function screening to determine whether lung disease could be detected
early.
|
|
1963
to 1964
|
The
National Association launched its Respiratory Disease Campaign to educate
the public, especially those over 40, about symptoms of chronic respiratory
disease.
The National Associaiton and it affiliates encouraged the
establishment of "Action for Clean Air Committees" and supported
proposed Congressional action to improve control.
The National
Association Board of Directors recommended that the organization conduct an
aggressive campaign designed to educate the public - especially young
people and those with chronic respiratory disease - about the hazards of
cigarette smoking.
|
|
1968
|
The
name of the organization is changed to National Tuberculosis and
Respiratory Disease. The board strengthened 1960 smoking statement and
urged local associations " to develop and
sponsor an active program to prevent young people from becoming smokers,
and to convince smokers that they should stop smoking."
|
|
1970
|
The
National Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Association introduced it
"Kick the Habit" antismoking campaign.
|
|
1973
|
The
National Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Association changed its name
to the American Lung Association (ALA).
|
|
1975
|
ALA established nonsmoker's
rights as a major program priority.
ALA signed a contract with the
U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare to develop the Primary
Grades Health Curriculum Project to educate young children about making
wise health decisions.
|
|
1976
|
The
Collaborative Smoking Cessation Project was started by ALA, ATS and the Congress of Lung
Association Staff. From this collaboration came the development of
self-help manual "Freedom From Smoking® in 20 Days" and the
follow-up manual "A Lifetime of Freedom From Smoking®."
|
|
1977
|
ALA became a smoke-free
organization.
|
|
1980
|
The
ALA Occupational Health Task Force developed recommendations for Lung
Association programs to prevent occupational lung disease.
|
|
1981
|
"Freedom
From Smoking" and "A Lifetime of Freedom From Smoking®"
manuals released nationwide.
SUPERSTUFF ®, a
package of materials designed to teach children and their parents about
asthma and self-help methods for controlling the disease, is offered
nationwide.
The ALA Board of
Directors adopted a "Long-Range Nationwide Plan to Prevent Occupational
Lung Disease."
ALA opened its Government
Relations Office in Washington,
DC.
ALA united with the American
Cancer Society and American Heart Association to form the Coalition on
Smoking OR Health.
|
|
1983
|
ALA launched its new
"Smoking and Pregnancy" program for expectant mothers and their
health care providers.
American Lung
Association/American Thoracic Society Government Relations Office fought
successfully to restore federal funding for tuberculosis programs.
|
|
1984
|
"The
Asthma Handbook" was issued to address the needs of the estimated 5.5
million adult Americans with asthma.
|
|
1986
|
ALA successfully lobbied Congress
to permanently extend the 16-cents-per-pack federal excise tax cigarettes.
|
|
1987
|
ALA led the successful campaign for the landmark law
banning smoking on all U.S.
domestic airline flights lasting 2 hours or less.
|
|
1988
|
ALA
convened a first-ever ALA/ATS Task Force on AIDS policy in Washington,
D.C., to explore public policy issues related to AIDS and their impact on
the pulmonary community.
ALA began work on a new multicomponent program, called TUFFS (Team Up for
Freedom from Smoking®) for local Lung Association to use in helping
business create and implement smoking policies in the work place.
|
|
1989
|
ALA led the successful campaign
for a new law banning smoking on all domestic airline flights lasting six
hours or less (99% of all domestic flights).
|
|
1990
|
ALA played a key role in adoption
of the significant Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990*the first air pollution
law passed in more than 10 years.
ALA co-chaired the Clean Air
Coalition, a decade-long effort focusing public and policymaker attention
on the Clean Air Act as a major public health law.
|
|
1991
|
ALA adopted Open Airways For
Schools. This program teaches elementary school children how to manage
their asthma and lead healthy, normal lives. Open Airways For Schools is
currently in 18,000 -- or 28% -- of U.S. elementary schools. We
have taught almost 200,000 children how to control their asthma through
Open Airways, and we have trained almost 14,000 volunteers.
ALA successfully lobbied Congress
to increase funding for lung research programs at the National Institutes
of Health and to increase funding to support federal TB control programs.
ALA successfully pushed for an
additional 4-cents-per-pack increase in the federal cigarette excise tax,
plus another 3-cent increase to take effect in 1993.
|
|
1992
|
ALA led the successful
international campaign for adoption of an International Civil Aviation
Organization resolution banning smoking on all international airline
flights.
|
|
1993
|
ALA led the successful campaign
that more than doubled federal appropriations for tuberculosis project
grants (from $15.3 million to $34.4 million), and appropriated entirely new
TB emergency grants of $39.3 million.
ALA worked at the highest levels
with the EPA to develop its landmark report on the health risks of exposure
to environmental tobacco smoke.
ALA participated at the highest
levels during debate over health care reform, including meetings with
President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, White House health advisors
and appearances before health committee in Congress.
Official adoption of
the ALA's Freedom From Smokingā
program to help members of the House of Representatives and their staffs
adapt to a new policy prohibiting smoking in all public areas of the House
and its office buildings.
|
|
1994
|
ALA led the successful effort to
secure an exemption for metered dose inhalers (MDIs)
from the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty banning the use of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs have been used as propellants in many of
the MDIs used by lung disease patients, including
those with asthma. The exemption was needed to give MDI manufacturers time
to develop CFC-free devices and provide an adequate transition period for
physicians and patients.
|
|
1995
|
ALA secured implementation of
strong regulations to enforce the ProKids law
requiring all schools and all federally funded children's programs, such as
Head Start, to be smoke-free.
|
|
1996
|
ALA worked with the White House
and Food and Drug Administration to develop groundbreaking regulations to
protect children from the dangers of tobacco use.
Teens Against Tobacco
Use (TATU), part of the Smoke-Free Class of 2000 program, began reaching
thousands of teens and elementary school children with a smoke-free message.
TATU, which is managed on the national level by ALA, trains teens to teach children ages
9 to 12 about remaining tobacco-free.
ALA opened its public web site
(http://www.lungusa.org), which receives an estimated nine million visitors
a year.
|
|
1997
|
ALA launched ASTHMATTACK!®, our initiative to raise $25 million to find the
cause of asthma. ALA
began funding three National Asthma Research Centers as part of ASTHMATTACK!®.
ALA was the first and foremost
national voluntary health agency to speak out against special legal
protections for the tobacco industry and against the 1997 deal between the
Attorneys General and the tobacco industry.
ALA served on the Koop-Kessler
Advisory Committee on Tobacco Policy and Public Health and chaired its
Environmental Tobacco Smoke Subcommitee.
ALA formed a new tobacco-control
advocacy group, Save Lives, Not Tobacco: The Coalition for Accountability,
a coalition of more than 350 public health,
consumer, medical, civic, labor and business groups advocating fair and effective
tobacco-control policies at the local, state and national levels.
ALA initiated its Accredited
Public Policy Program to provide a structure for Lung Associations to use
in developing and expanding their state advocacy efforts.
ALA joined Vice President Al Gore
and EPA Administrator Carol Browner in White House ceremonies unveiling
tough new federal air quality standards for smog and soot. The new
standards are the result of ALA
lawsuits filed in 1991 (smog) and 1993 (soot) against the EPA.
ALA won a lawsuit to force the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen the health-based air
pollution standards for ozone (smog), particulate matter (soot) and sulfur
dioxide which took effect in 1997;
The American Lung
Association Family Guide to Asthma and Allergies, by ALA Scientific
Consultant Dr. Norman Edelman, is published by Little, Brown
|
|
1998
|
ALA
partnered with the Prudential Foundation and Children's Television Workshop
(Sesame Street) to develop and distribute "A is for Asthma," bilingual
kits and award winning videos to teach preschool children and their
caretakers about managing their asthma.
The American Lung
Association's 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life, a comprehensive smoking
cessation book written by ALA
volunteer Edwin Fisher, is published by John Wiley & Sons.
ALA secured U.S. Agency for
International Development funding for international TB-prevention and
control activities and initiating the global planning effort now underway
at the World Health Organization.
ALA's Accredited Public Policy
Program received the Award of Excellence in Government Relations from the
prestigious American Society of Association Executives.
|
|
1999
|
Responding
to a 1997 ALA
complaint, the Federal Trade Commission determined that R.J. Reynolds Co.
must alter its "No Additives, No Bill!" Winston cigarette
advertising campaign.
ALA filed two petitions with the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia to reverse a lower court ruling that
rejected components of strong new air quality standards for smog and soot.
ALA filed an amicus brief with
the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Food and Drug Administration authority
to regulate tobacco products.
|
