Fast Facts
- Our vision is a world free of lung disease.
- Our mission is to prevent lung disease and improve lung health.
- The American Lung Association is the oldest voluntary health organization in the United States. Founded in 1904 to fight tuberculosis, our mission has expanded to fight all lung diseases through research, education and advocacy.
- The regional American Lung Association of the Atlantic Coast was created July 1, 2007 as a result of merging the American Lung Associations of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. We continue to do business in each state under the state names.
- We have a history of success that includes:
- containing the spread of tuberculosis in the U.S. by the mid-20th century.
- creating the Freedom From Smoking® program, the gold standard of smoking cessation. It has helped more than 1 million people quit smoking.
- playing a key role in the adoption of the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, which has resulted in more than 9.9 billion domestic air travelers flying in smokefree environments since 1990.
- Our credo:
American community is clean and healthy.
We will breathe easier when people are free from the addictive
grip of cigarettes and the debilitating effects of lung disease.
We will breathe easier when the air in our public spaces and
workplaces is clear of secondhand smoke.
We will breathe easier when children no longer
battle airborne poisons or fear an asthma attack.
Until then, we are fighting for air.
