The Facts:
Today, an estimated 45 million U.S. adults smoke. Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in our society. Tobacco use can cause lung cancer, as well as other cancers, heart disease and lung disease. Smoking is responsible for 1 in 3 cancer deaths, and 1 in 5 deaths from all causes. Another 8.6 million people are living with serious illnesses caused by smoking.

Smokers aren't the only ones being harmed by their habit. Secondhand smoke kills, too. When nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke it is called involuntary smoking or passive smoking. Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke absorb nicotine and other toxic chemicals just as smokers do. The greater the exposure to secondhand smoke, the greater the level of these harmful chemicals in your body.

Every year, smokers across the nation take part in the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout by smoking less or quitting for the day on the third Thursday of November. The event challenges people to stop using tobacco and raises awareness of the many [effective ways to quit for good.] this should be a link to: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/ped_10_3.asp

Research shows that smokers are most successful in kicking the habit when they have some means of support, such as nicotine replacement products, counseling, prescription medicine to lessen cravings, guide books, and the encouragement of friends and family members.

Call 1-800-ACS-2345 to find a quitline or other science-based support in your area.

The Great American Smokeout at GW

On Thursday, November 16, 2006, from 7:30 am to 1:30 pm, GW will join thousands of other organizations around the country to help people quit smoking and to draw attention to the deaths and chronic diseases caused by smoking.

Prevention and early detection are two of the most important tools in the fight against cancer. Join us in the tent outside the Foggy Bottom Metro Station, where you can get valuable information on the dangers of smoking and the importance of quitting and take a free, one-second lung function test before you have symptoms. There is no appointment necessary.

Quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your loved ones. To kick the habit for good, you need motivation, dependable support and sound strategies. GW and the American Cancer Society have got you covered with all three! Stop by and see how.

How the Great American Smokeout Began

The idea for the Great American Smokeout grew out of a 1974 event. Lynn R. Smith, editor of the Monticello Times in Minnesota, spearheaded the state’s first D-Day, or Don’t Smoke Day. The idea may have been inspired by Arthur P. Mullaney of Randolph, Massachusetts, who three years earlier had asked people to give up cigarettes for a day and donate the money they would have spent on cigarettes to a high school scholarship fund.

The idea caught on, and on November 18, 1976, the California Division of the American Cancer Society successfully prompted nearly one million smokers to quit for the day. That California event marked the first Smokeout, and the Society took it nationwide in 1977.

For more information about quitting smoking, call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345.