RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as etoposide, cisplatin, and carboplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Pravastatin may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth and by making tumor cells more sensitive to chemotherapy. It is not yet known whether etoposide and cisplatin or carboplatin are more effective with or without pravastatin in treating small cell lung cancer.