Today, as we do every February 4, we commemorate World Cancer Day. Organized by the Union for International Cancer Control (IUCC), World Cancer Day is a day for the global cancer community to come together and make our voices heard as we raise awareness about the need to make the fight to defeat cancer an international priority.
This week marks not only the start of a new year, but also the anniversaries of two very important laws to assist the fight against cancer.
I can hardly believe 2012 is coming to an end. As the new year approaches, I always like to think back on the accomplishments and significant events of the past 12 months. To say ACS CAN was busy this year is an understatement. We had a great year, and I want to share some of our highlights with you.
According to an annual report ACS CAN released today with several other public health organizations, states will spend less than two percent of this settlement money on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. This means the states are spending less than two pennies of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco addiction.
Tobacco control advocates had much cause for celebration yesterday! In a victory for public health, U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered strong corrective statements that the tobacco companies must make to explain that they deliberately deceived the American public for decades about the health hazards of their deadly products.
Today the American Cancer Society and ACS CAN are celebrating the 37th Great American Smokeout. Each year on this day, thousands of people across the country put down their cigarettes for a day, and many make a plan to never pick them up again. However, the Great American Smokeout is also a day to draw attention to the devastating impact tobacco use continues to have on our country and how lawmakers can help to reverse it.
I recently came across a fascinating new study that shows the power of television advertising in encouraging people to quit smoking. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the study results suggest that smokers who are exposed to graphic and/or emotional TV ads are more likely to attempt to quit smoking than smokers who don't see the ads.
To shed light on the economic devastation caused by tobacco around the world, the American Cancer Society and the World Lung Foundation Monday held a unique event in Washington, DC to unveil the fourth edition of the Tobacco Atlas.
A new edition of the ACS CAN report How Do You Measure Up? shows that the majority of states are not measuring up on legislative solutions to prevent and fight cancer. The report ranks where states stand on these issues that play a critical role in reducing cancer incidence and death. It measures seven specific issues.
Illinois celebrated a major victory against Big Tobacco this week! Governor Pat Quinn signed into law yesterday morning a $1 cigarette tax increase, bringing the state cigarette tax to $1.98 a pack. With this increase, 38,600 Illinois lives will be saved, 72,700 Illinoisan kids will not start smoking and the state will raise $348.8 million in new revenue annually.