FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 10, 2003) -- Nov. 20 marks the 27^th year of the Great American Smokeout. The Smokeout is a nationally recognized event to challenge people to stop using tobacco products. The event also hopes to raise public awareness of the health risks of tobacco use and the many effective ways available to quit using tobacco. 

The Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program in the Department for Public Health is encouraging Kentuckians to take up the challenge.  

“We want people to know that tobacco use is not healthy.  Quitting is difficult and our program can help people locate the resources they need to be successful,” said Dr. Rice Leach, Commissioner of the Department for Public Health. Annually, tobacco related illnesses take the lives of over 6,800 Kentuckians and over 400,000 Americans.

Researchers indicate that two thirds of all smokers say they would like to quit smoking.  Nearly half of all smokers try to quit in a given year, but the addiction to nicotine is difficult to overcome.

“Very few people quit the first time,” said Irene Centers, program manager, “We want to encourage people to keep trying.”

            For information about local cessation activities and tips to successfully quit using tobacco contact the Tobacco Control Coordinator with the Health Department in the county where you live or Ms. Centers with Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program at 502-564-7995, extension 3808.  

              Programs like Cooper-Clayton combine nicotine replacement therapy with behavioral modification over a 12-week period to help smokers quit.  Physicians can also provide prescription medications to help you deal with withdrawal symptoms from nicotine.

            Leach also urged Kentucky’s doctors to help.  “Studies have shown that physicians who take just a few minutes each time they see a patient who smokes provide a service that saves as many lives in tobacco related diseases as mammograms save in breast cancer,” Leach said.

            There are great health benefits of stopping tobacco use: 

• Immediately after quitting smoking don’t have to deal with the inconvenience of leaving your workplace, someone’s home, your own home, a restaurant, or other places to smoke.

• Twenty minutes after quitting smoking, your blood pressure drops to a level close to that before your last cigarette.  The temperature of your hands and feet increases, returning to normal.
• Eight hours after quitting smoking the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.
• Twenty-four hours after quitting smoking your chances of having a heart attack decrease.
• Two weeks to three months after quitting smoking you have better circulation and your lung function increases up to 30 percent.
• One to nine months after quitting smoking coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease and your lungs start to function better, lowering your risk of lung infection.
• One year after quitting smoking you reduce your risk for heart disease by 50 percent.
• A one pack a day smoker who pays at least $3.00 per pack, can expect to save more than $1,000 per year.
• If all pregnant women quit smoking, about 4,000 new babies would not die every year.
• When you stop smoking you reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and lung diseases like emphysema or bronchitis, and reduce wrinkling and aging of the skin and eyes.
• When you quit smoking you set a good example for your children to follow.  New research shows that parents who quit while their kids are young reduce the chances that their children will become smokers themselves.

The Smokeout offers public support and a feeling of camaraderie with others who are giving up cigarettes.  For individual assistance, log on to www.lungusa.org/ffs/index.html for a web based smoking cessation program provided by the American Lung Association.

            Several toll-free quit lines are also available to provide brief intervention when the conviction to quit may waiver.

• Cancer Information Service                      (800) 422-6237
• Great Start                                                   (866) 667-8278
• American Cancer Society                         (800) 227-2345

The Great American Smokeout is a national campaign initiated by the American Cancer Society in 1977 to draw attention to the health risks of tobacco use and secondhand smoke.  It is estimated that more Americans try to quit smoking on this day than any other day of the year, including New Year’s Day.

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