Sometimes we understand things intellectually but not always emotionally. Sometimes reality needs to touch us in a more visceral way to be effective. The CDC's new ad campaign, Tips from Former Smokers, features real-life stories of people who have suffered from the harmful effects of smoking. It helps us to understand more fully the real impacts of smoking. Launched on March 19 by the CDC's Office of Smoking and Health, this federally-funded three-month ad campaign is designed to educate the public about the dangerous effects of smoking and what it is like to live with medical conditions caused by smoking. Real-life stories of people facing medical conditions such as lung and laryngeal cancer, stroke and Buerger's disease are highlighted in TV, radio and print ads across the country. The website for the campaign has a wealth of resources including videos of the TV ads that you can watch. Several of them are very graphic and share personal stories of how people are coping with the negative effects of smoking. I was taken by the ad posted below and wanted to share it with you because it can communicate with those who have been unmotivated by all of the available information to date on the dangers of tobacco use. Using advertising as part of a multi-pronged approach including federal legislation regulating tobacco, local smoke-free laws, increased tobacco taxes and investment in cessation and prevention programs is vital to helping people quit smoking. In addition to supporting strong implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, ACS CAN has led to the way in working with state legislatures to pass more than 100 cigarette tax increases in 47 states and DC and several U.S. territories since 2002, and to pass comprehensive smoke-free laws covering all workplaces, bars and restaurants in 23 states, DC, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Tobacco kills more than 443,000 Americans each year, causes nearly 90 percent of lung cancer deaths and is responsible for nearly one-third of all cancers. A comprehensive tobacco control effort is the only way to combat the relentless pursuit of tobacco companies to addict new, young smokers and keep current smokers hooked. Smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption continue to go on at epidemic levels worldwide. We need to help protect the public from this danger. We are doing so and will continue to do so in every way we know how. *Video and Photo retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/
Even as Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, ACS CAN will keep working year-round, across the country and with both state and federal lawmakers, to advance the public policies we know will reduce the burden of breast cancer.