Continuing with the success of last year's national education ad campaign, "Tips from Former Smokers," a second series of ads was launched this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The ads, funded by the Affordable Care Act's Prevention and Public Health Fund, feature compelling stories of former smokers living with smoking-related diseases and disabilities. The ads began Monday and will run for at least 12 weeks on television, radio, and billboards, online, and in theaters, magazines, and newspapers nationwide. "This campaign is saving lives and saving dollars by giving people the facts about smoking in an easy-to-understand way that encourages quitting," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "This campaign is effective. The increase in calls to quitlines after last year's campaign shows that more people are trying to quit smoking as a result of these ads." The ads encourage smokers to call 1-800-QUIT-NOW, a toll-free number to access quit support across the country, or visit cdc.gov/tips to view the personal stories from the campaign and for free help quitting. "Smoking and secondhand smoke kill - and they also harm smokers and non-smokers. The Tips from Former Smokers campaign shows the painful effects of smoking through former smokers, in a way that numbers alone cannot," said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "These are the kinds of ads that smokers tell us help motivate them to quit, saving lives and money." The new ads feature Tiffany, who lost her mother when she was 16 to lung cancer, and recently quit smoking herself as her own daughter turned 16 because she did not want her daughter to suffer the way she did; Bill, a 40-year-old with diabetes whose smoking led to heart surgery, blindness in one eye, amputation, and kidney failure; Michael, who suffers from COPD and is agonizing about how to tell his grandson he may not be around to share his life much longer; Nathan, who suffered severe lung damage from secondhand smoke exposure at work; And a new ad featuring Terrie, who appeared in last year's promotion showing what a head and neck cancer survivor has to do to "get ready for the day," and who wishes she had recorded her voice before she had to have her voicebox removed, since her grandson has never heard any voice but her current one.

********** Published: April 4, 2013 - Volume 11 - Issue 51