A marked decline in lung cancer cases in the United States has been observed between 2005 and 2009, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among American men and women, according to Lung.org. However, according to a recent Centers For Disease Control and Prevention report, there has been a marked decline in the number of lung cancer cases in the United States between 2005 and 2009.

According to the report, lung cancer cases have declined by 2.6 percent per year among men and 1.1 percent per year among women. Between the time period mentioned only 78 cases per 100,000 men and 54 cases per 100,000 women have been reported.

The highest decline in lung cancer cases was observed among adults aged between 35 and 44 years. A 6.5 percent drop among men and 5.8 percent among women per year was reported.

"While it is encouraging that lung cancer incidence rates are dropping in the United States, one preventable cancer is one too many," CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. said in a statement. "Implementation of tobacco control strategies is needed to reduce smoking prevalence and the lung cancer it causes among men and women."

The observations were made after CDC officials analyzed data from the National Program of Cancer Registries, National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results.

"Since 1964 when the first Surgeon General's report on the health consequences of smoking was published, cigarette smoking cessation rates increased and cigarette smoking initiation rates decreased more rapidly among men than women," according to the CDC report.

Since smoking is largely responsible for causing lung cancer and judging by the statistics of this report, is it safe to say that policy makers are doing a great job in curbing smoking activities and preventing lung cancer cases?

In July last year, the state of New York will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its indoor smoking ban act - The Clean Indoor Air Act. Over the decade many other smoke-free laws have been introduced across the country. Smoking rates reduced by 16 percent among adults and by over 40 percent among the youth. New laws have not been the only reason why these rates have dropped. According to the American Lung Association's annual State of Tobacco Control report, New York has the highest tobacco tax.

Whether these smoking bans are responsible for the decline in lung cancer rates is true or not, these bans have definitely reduced rate of people being hospitalized for heart attacks, strokes and respiratory diseases like asthma and emphysema, a previous Mayo Clinic research revealed, according to HNGN