Lung cancer remains the number one killer among cancers.

The Lung Cancer Alliance has given America a report card to America for its progress on tackling the disease. The result: If lung cancer were a student, it would be a dropout.

Lung cancer killed 161,000 people last year, three times more men than prostate cancer, twice as many women as breast cancer.

More people will die from lung cancer this year than breast, prostate, colon, leukemia, ovarian and cervical cancer -- combined.

About 60 percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer never smoked. While that's puzzling to the medical community, this brings new suspicion on second-hand smoke, naturally occurring radon, asbestos, sensitivity to air pollution.

From 1996 to 2003, only 16 percent of lung cancer was diagnosed at an early, most treatable stage. That's to be expected; lung cancer doesn't have consistent symptoms until it's at stage 4, when it's nearly impossible to stop. Still, there's no means of early detection or screening for lung cancer.

By contrast, 61 percent of breast cancers, 39 percent of colon cancers and 91 percent of prostate cancers were diagnosed at early stage. These cancers have screening tests.

The Lung Cancer Alliance sees the big problem in these and more issues is the lack of funding for research. Funding supports research and successful research -- breast, prostate and colon cancer for example -- turns around the death rates of cancers by coming up with screening and therapies.

The lack of funding is due to the stigma that anyone with lung cancer did it to themselves. The numbers say that's simply not true.

The Alliance is hoping people will put pressure on their representatives to set aside money for research into lung cancer.