Lung cancer is one of the most common malignancies with 900,000 new cases each year in men and 330,000 in women. It is one of the leading causes of death from cancer. The incidence of lung cancer is directly related to the smoking habits of a population; hence any programs linked to curbing use of tobacco such as legislative acts against smoking in public, banning advertisements related to smoking, health education via mass media will go a long way in primary prevention of lung cancer. The developed nations have already started showing a downward trend in the incidence and mortality of lung cancer owing to these programs. Mass screening of high risk groups for lung cancer with sputum cytology, and annual CXR have failed to decrease the mortality rates. Despite these finding most believe in following this protocol. The 5 year survival for lung cancer patients is less than 15%.