Message
from
Tommy
G.
Thompson
Secretary
of
Health
and
Human
Services
Ever
since
the
first
Surgeon
General’s
report
on
smoking
in
1964,
Americans
have
learned
about
the
dangerous
effects
of
smoking
and
how
tragically
this
habit
can
end
life.
It
is
an
irrefutable
fact
that
smoking
cigarettes
and
using
other
tobacco
products
causes
cancer
and
often
results
in
other
debilitating
illnesses
and
death.
Our
Nation,
rightfully,
remains
on
an
important
quest
to
raise
public
awareness
of
the
dangers
of
smoking
and
to
deter
people
from
choosing
this
costly
habit,
particularly
our
young
people.
Too
often
and
for
too
long,
however,
smoking
has
been
largely
viewed
in
the
context
of
men’s
health.
But
smoking
wreaks
a
great
and
unique
toll
on
the
health
of
our
women
and
teenage
girls
as
well.
The
impact
smoking
is
having
on
our
Nation’s
women
is
alarming.
Therefore,
the
work
of
Surgeon
General
David
Satcher
and
the
Centers
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention
(CDC)
in
producing
this
report
of
the
Surgeon
General
on
women
and
smoking
could
not
come
at
a
better
time.
Frankly,
this
update
and
expansion
of
the
1980
Surgeon
General’s
report,
The
Health
Consequences
of
Smoking
for
Women,
is
long
due.
And
we
are
all
grateful
for
the
time
and
hard
work
put
into
this
report
by
the
Surgeon
General,
his
office,
the
Office
of
Women’s
Health,
the
CDC,
the
National
Institutes
of
Health,
and
researchers
and
scientists
from
around
the
world.
This
report
shines
a
bright
light
on
the
devastating
impact
of
smoking
on
women
and
the
need
for
the
Nation
to
come
together
and
address
this
problem.
Just
look
at
a
sample
of
the
statistics
summarized
in
this
report.
•
An
estimated
27,000
more
women
died
of
lung
cancer
than
of
breast
cancer
in
2000.
•
Three
million
women
have
died
prematurely
because
of
smoking
since
1980,
and
on
average,
these
women
died
14
years
prematurely.
•
Twenty-two
percent
of
women
smoked
cigarettes
in
1998.
•
And
30
percent
of
high
school
senior
girls
reported
smoking
in
the
past
month,
according
to
recent
information.
The
report
goes
well
beyond
just
the
statistical
impacts
of
smoking
to
lay
out
specific
health
problems
incurred
by
women
who
smoke.
This
report
found
that
women
who
smoke
have
a
lower
bone
density
and
experience
a
premature
decline
of
lung
function.
These
women
also
are
at
increased
risk
of
conception
delay
and
both
primary
and
secondary
infertility.
For
pregnant
women
who
smoke,
the
risk
is
increased
for
low
birth
weight,
perinatal
mortality—both
stillbirth
and
neonatal
deaths—and
sudden
infant
death
syndrome
after
the
child
is
born.
Of
course,
there
are
the
health
dangers
of
smoking
that
most
of
us
are
familiar
with
but
remain
just
as
real
and
just
as
deadly
for
women:
cancer,
emphysema,
heart
disease,
and
stroke.
Now,
studies
suggest
that
even
exposure
to
environmental
tobacco
smoke
has
a
causal
link
to
cancer
and
heart
disease.
If
we
are
going
to
succeed
in
reducing
the
number
of
women
who
smoke
in
this
country,
we
must
first
succeed
in
preventing
our
teenagers
and
young
women
from
picking
up
the
habit.
Our
antismoking
efforts
at
the
U.S.
Department
of
Health
and
Human
Services
will
focus
intensively
on
keeping
tobacco
out
of
the
hands
of
teenage
girls
and
college-age
women.
These
young
women
are
greatly
influenced
by
their
peers
and
the
glamor
of
smoking
portrayed
through
magazines,
television,
and
movies;
we
must
be
aggressive
in
educating
them
that
smoking
is
very
addictive,
harmful,
and
lethal.
These
young
women
must
know
that
once
they
start,
it
will
be
difficult
to
stop—and
that
the
health
risks
are
very
real
and
costly.
All
of
society
must
engage
in
this
endeavor,
as
well
as
the
overall
challenge
of
reducing
smoking
in
this
Nation,
if
we
are
to
succeed.
We
must
re-energize
our
efforts
and
commit
time
and
resources—private
and
public—to
the
prevention
of
smoking
initiation.
We
need
to
provide
parents,
teachers,
and
community
leaders
with
tools
and
information
that
effectively
convey
the
destructive
message
of
cigarette
use.
And
we
need
all
aspects
of
the
media
to
join
the
effort
in
addressing
this
societal
problem.
Our
best
defense
against
the
dangers
of
smoking
is
a
comprehensive
approach
to
tobacco
use
prevention,
which
includes
education
that
is
accessible
to
all.
We
must
also
strengthen
the
enforcement
activities
aimed
at
preventing
youth
smoking,
including
no
marketing
geared
toward
teenagers
and
absolutely
no
tobacco
sales
to
minors.
We
must
fully
support
law
enforcement
sting
operations
and
other
improved
methods
of
ensuring
that
persons
who
purchase
tobacco
products
are
adults.
The
cost
of
smoking
is
simply
too
high
in
this
country.
The
impacts
are
a
financial
drain
on
our
Nation’s
health
care
system,
costing
up
to
$73
billion
annually.
But
more
important,
we
are
losing
too
many
of
our
mothers
and
daughters
prematurely
as
a
result
of
smoking.
We
simply
can’t
afford
to
lose
any
women
to
this
harmful
habit.
This
Surgeon
General’s
report
provides
an
opportunity
for
America
to
focus
on
how
damaging
smoking
is
to
the
well-being
of
our
women
and
girls.
We
must
seize
this
opportunity
to
prevent
smoking
by
women,
and
help
those
who
do
smoke
to
quit,
which
will
improve
the
overall
health
of
women
in
this
country.
And
we
must
do
this
by
working
together
as
a
Nation,
for
that
is
the
only
way
we
can
truly
succeed
in
addressing
this
devastating
problem.
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