On Mar. 6, 1984, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Margaret M. Heckler launched a new cancer prevention awareness program by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to inform the public about cancer risks and steps individuals can take to reduce risk.

The NCI hopes to halve the nation’s cancer death toll by the year 2000 and predicts 95,000 lives a year could be saved by simply cutting the smoking rate in half and improving our diets.