Another triumph of the human spirit

The news gets better.

TUESDAY, Jan. 16 (HealthDay News) -- The number of cancer deaths in the United States has dropped for the second year in a row, the first such decreases since researchers started keeping national statistics more than 70 years ago.

The most recent decline was much larger than the year before with 3,014 fewer deaths reported between 2003 and 2004, compared to 369 fewer deaths from 2002 to 2003.

"This second consecutive drop in the number of actual cancer deaths, much steeper than the first, shows last year's historic drop was no fluke," John R. Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, said in a prepared statement.

"Everyone involved in the fight against cancer should be proud of this remarkable achievement," he added. "The hard work towards preventing cancer, catching it early, and making treatment more effective is paying dramatic, lifesaving dividends. Thirteen years of continuing drops in the overall cancer death rate have now overtaken trends in aging and growth of the U.S. population, resulting in decreased numbers of deaths."