jon lapook is here with us to help sort it out. jon, it is so good to see you. you look at this report, 4.5 million cancer deaths prevented since 1991 by doing things like stopping smoking, early detection, and better treatments. so what are some of the things, though, that people can do now to further lower the odds of getting cancer? >> reporter: well, you know, the details of your family history are a good place to start. if your mom had "stomach cancer," was it really from the stomach, or could it have been colon or even ovarian, which would totally change the approach to screening? so try to get medical records whenever possible. cervical cancer is preventable with the hpv vaccine, but less than 40% of eligible children got it in 2022. but by far the number one modifiable risk factor is smoking, which accounts for about 30% of all cancer deaths. >> norah: well, it's interesting that you mention that because the report today says that lung cancer is still the number one cause of cancer deaths, so if you are a current or former smoker, is there a way to scree

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jon lapook. jon, start our conversation off by telling us what rfk jr. d oversee, massive department. >> dr. lapook: you are right john. hhs is huge. we put together some thing i want to show you. the annual budget is $1.8 trillion. that is $0.26 out of every dollar that the government spends every year. and it oversees 13 federal agencies, including the cdc, the fda, medicaid, medicare, and the nih, which oversees a tremendous amount of medical research, so this organization really affects almost all of us. >> maurice: massive. but what would be his powers as he oversees all these agencies? >> dr. lapook: you know tremendous. i will give you an example. the cdc has an advisory committee that recommends to the cdc what vaccines to give and when to give them. well, the hhs secretary appoints the voting members of that advisory committee, so even without official changes, the views of somebody at the top of such a powerful organization can affect public opinion, so if there is doubts, for example about vaccines, that can trickle down and perhaps increase va

jon lapook joins us now.tor, the world health organization warned way back in 1988 that alcohol is linked to cancer. why the surgeon general suggestion now? >> reporter: you know, major there has been a growing body of evidence over the last few decades that links alcohol to cancers, but only about 45% of americans know that. compare that to about 90% of americans who know that smoking causes cancer. so dr. murthy, our surgeon general, is trying to get the word out, and he specifically linked cancer of the mouth, of the throat, the mouth, the voice box, the esophagus, the colon, the liver, and the breast. >> major: the surgeon general's report states that even having one drink a day increases the cancer risks. so, how do we define one drink? >> reporter: yeah, people it different, don't they? one drink is a can of beer that's about 12 ounces, a small glass of wine, about 5 ounces or about a shot of hard liquor but 1.5 ounces. >> norah: dr. lapook, this might be confusing for people who might remember hearing