For Immediate Release Contact: Jeannette Noltenius

Adrian Althoff

(202) 328-1313

(408) 449-6491

jnoltenius@sswdc.com

aalthoff@indianalatino.com

Thursday, March 15, 2012

These New Ads Might Shock You---

They Might Also Save Your Life And The Life Of A Loved One

Washington, DC.- Today, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a national education campaign that depicts the harsh reality of illness and damage real people suffer as a result of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. The ads show the toll smoking-related illnesses take on real people and their loved ones.

The "Tips from Former Smokers" campaign features compelling stories of former smokers living with smoking-related diseases and disabilities. The ads focus on smoking-related lung and throat cancer, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, Buerger's disease, and asthma. Smokers who quit also pass along tips about what helped them succeed. There will also be an ad in Spanish about the anguish a Latina mother feels when her son who is asthmatic is exposed to secondhand smoke.

"Though they may be tough to watch, the ads show real people living with real, painful consequences from smoking, and how their families are impacted as well," said Dr. Jeannette Noltenius, National Director of the National Latino Tobacco Control Network (NLTCN). "There is sound evidence that supports the use of these types of hard-hitting images and messages to encourage smokers to quit, to keep children from ever beginning to smoke, and to drastically reduce the harm caused by tobacco."

Despite the known dangers of tobacco use, nearly one in five adults in the United States smoke. Many Latinos smoke less than five cigarettes per day and smoke primarily on the weekends- often while drinking at social events- and yet their health is also compromised. More than 1200 people die every day from tobacco-related diseases, and for every one person who dies, another 20 live with a smoking-related illness and many are disabled. When a family member is disabled, the impact on Latino families is enormous: it affects them emotionally and financially because they have to take care of them, fundamentally changing their daily lives. Nearly 70% of smokers say they want to quit, and half try to quit each year. With diabetes rates escalating in Latino communities, quitting smoking will help avert amputations of the lower extremities, as well as disability.

Many of the ads will be tagged with 1-800-QUIT-NOW, a toll-free number to access quit support across the country, or the www.smokefree.gov web site, which provides free quitting information. For more information on tobacco control activities, please visit www.latinotobaccocontrol.org/ . For more information on the "Tips from Former Smokers" campaign visit www.cdc.gov/quitting/tips.

##############