M arch 21, 2012
^lortlanh (Observer
P age 7
Graphic Anti-Tobacco Campaign Debuts
New effort tries
to shock smokers
into quitting
(AP) — In a graphic new ad cam paign
announced Thursday, the governm ent is try
ing to shock sm okers into quitting with the
som etim es-gruesom e stories of people dam
aged by tobacco products.
The new effort confronts a hard truth:
Despite increased tobacco taxes and bans in
many public places, the adult sm oking rate
hasn't really budged since 2003.
"When we look back on ju st a few decades
to the days of sm oking on airplanes and
elevators, it can be easy to focus on how far
we've come," said Secretary of Health and
Human Resources Kathleen Sebelius, at a
news conference.
But sm oking continues to take a devastat
ing toll on the Am erican public, and the new
ads are meant to be "a wake-up call" to sm ok
ers who may not truly grasp the dangers that
still exist, she added.
The billboards and print, radio and TV ads
show people whose sm oking resulted in heart
surgery, a tracheotom y, lost lim bs or paraly
sis. The $54 m illion cam paign is the largest
and starkest anti-sm oking push by the C en
ters for Disease Control and Prevention and
its first national advertising effort.
The agency is hoping the spots, which
begin M onday and will air for at least 12
weeks, will persuade as many as 50,000 Ameri
cans to stop sm oking.
"This is incredibly im portant. It's not every
Smohng causes immediate damage to yo u body
Foi Shawn, it caused throat cancer You can quit
For tree help, ca» 1 8 0 0 Q U IT N O W
A public service advertisement by the Centers for Disease Control shows
Shawn Wright who had a tracheotomy after being diagnosed with head and
neck cancer. The government is trying to shock smokers into quitting with
a graphic nationwide advertising campaign.
Red Meat Health Risks Found
Eating a portion of processed red meat
daily can boost a person's risk o f dying young
by up to 20 percent, according to a new long-
running study.
While the research by Harvard University
experts offers more evidence that eating red
meat increases the risk of heart disease and
cancer, it also counsels that substituting fish
and poultry may lower early death risk.
Researchers gleaned their data from a
study of 37,698 men who were followed for
22 years and 83,644 women who were tracked
for 28 years.
Those who ate a card-deck-sized serving
of unprocessed red meat each day on aver
age saw a 13 percent higher risk of dying than
those who did not eat red meat as frequently.
And if the red meat was processed, like in
a hot dog or two slices of bacon, that risk
jum ped to 20 percent.
However, substituting nuts for red meat
lowered total mortality risk by 19 percent,
while poultry or whole grains lowered the risk A study finds that eating red meat daily boosts risk
14 percent and fish did so by seven percent. o f dying young.
day we release som ething that will save thou
sands o f lives," CDC D irector Dr. Thom as
Frieden said in a telephone interview.
That bold prediction is based on earlier re
search that found aggressive anti-sm oking cam
paigns using hard-hitting im ages som etim es led
to decreases in sm oking. A fter decades o f de
cline, the adult sm oking rate has stalled at about
20 percent in recent years.
Advocates say it’s im portant to jo lt a weary
public that has been listening to governm ent
warnings about the dangers o f smoking for nearly
50 years.
"There is an urgent need for this media cam
paign," M atthew M yers, president o f the C am
paign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a state
ment.
One o f the print ads features Shawn W right
from W ashington state who had a tracheotom y
after being diagnosed with head and neck can
cer four years ago. The ad show s the 50-year-old
shaving, his razor m oving down tow ard a red
gaping hole at the base o f his neck that he uses
to speak and breathe.
An advertising firm, Arnold W orldwide, found
W right and about a dozen others who devel
oped cancer or other health problem s after sm ok
ing for the ads.
Federal health agencies have gradually em
braced graphic anti-sm oking imagery. Last year,
the Food and Drug A dm inistration approved
nine images to be displayed on cigarette pack
ages. Among them were a man exhaling cigarette
smoke through a tracheotom y hole in his throat,
and a diseased mouth with what appear to be
cancerous lesions.
Last month, a federal judge blocked the require
ment that tobacco companies put the images on
their packages, saying it was unconstitutional.
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