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NOVEMBER 20th IS THE
GREAT AMERICAN SMOKEOUT |
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The American
Cancer Society (ACS) has sponsored the Great American Smokeout
to encourage adults to stop smoking and young persons not to
start. The Great American Smokeout will focus on helping adults to
quit smoking and on increasing young persons' awareness of the dangers
of tobacco use. |
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WHAT IS THE BURDEN
OF TOBACCO USE? |
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Tobacco use remains the leading
preventable cause of death in the United States, causing more than
440,000 deaths each year. Nationally, smoking results in more than
5.6 million years of potential life lost each year. |
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An estimated 46.5 million adults in the United States
smoke cigarettes. |
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Tobacco use costs more than $75 billion in medical
expenditures and another $80 billion in indirect costs resulting from
lost productivity. |
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Smoking is known to cause chronic lung disease, heart
disease, and stroke, as well as cancer of the lungs, larynx,
esophagus, mouth, and bladder. In addition, smoking contributes to
cancer of the cervix, pancreas, and kidneys. Smokeless tobacco and
cigars also have deadly consequences, including lung, larynx,
esophageal, and mouth cancer. |
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Novel tobacco products such as bidis and clove
cigarettes should not be considered safe alternatives to conventional
cigarettes or smokeless tobacco. |
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Each year,
because of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, an estimated 3,000
nonsmoking Americans die of lung cancer, and 300,000 children suffer
from lower respiratory tract infections. Particularly alarming is the
fact that more than 3 million young people under age 18 smoke half a
billion cigarettes each year and that more than one-half of them
consider themselves dependent upon cigarettes. |
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TOBACCO AND
MINORITIES |
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Tobacco use varies within and among
racial/ethnic minority groups; among adults, American Indians and
Alaska Natives have the highest prevalence of tobacco use, and African
American and Southeast Asian men also have a high prevalence of
smoking. Asian American and Hispanic women have the lowest prevalence. |
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Among adolescents, cigarette smoking
prevalence increased in the 1990s among African Americans and
Hispanics after several years of substantial decline among adolescents
of all racial/ethnic minority groups. This increase is particularly
striking among African American youths, who had the greatest decline
of the four groups during the 1970s and 1980s. |
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FOR MORE INFORMATION |
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CDC's Tobacco Information and Prevention Source |
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Sample "Smokeout" Press Release |
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Sample "Smokeout" Proclamation |
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Pathways to
Freedom African American smoking guide |
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Healthy
People 2010, Chapter 27, Tobacco Use |
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HHS
Girlpower |
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For Adults |
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MedlinePlus: Smoking Cessation |
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National Cancer
Institute (NCI) |
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Prevention and Cessation of Cigarette Smoking |
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Questions and Answers about Smoking Cessation |
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Smoking and
Tobacco Control Monographs |
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National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) |
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Office of the Surgeon
General
Women and
Smoking, 2001
Tobacco Use Among
U.S. Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups, 1998 |
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Smokefree.gov |
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Pathways to
Freedom |
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Guía para Dejar de Fumar (2002) |
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American
Cancer Society |
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Tobacco and Cancer |
| MMWR |
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Cigarette
Smoking Among Adults --- United States, 2001
MMWR Weekly, October 10, 2003 /
52(40);953-956. |
