(RALEIGH) -- According to a new survey by the American Cancer Society, North Carolina is falling short on legislative programs to fight cancer. One of the problems, according to spokesperson Christine Weason, is the General Assembly failed to support tobacco prevention program funding.

"Basically their purpose was to promote smoking cessation programs like the TRU (Tobacco Reality Unfiltered) programs that you see advertised on TV or QuitlineNC, which is a smoking quit line that's available free statewide and North Carolina eliminated that trust fund and eliminated the program," said Weason.

An estimated 1.6 million people in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer and nearly 570,000 will die from the disease this year.