TIPS CAMPAIGN RETURNS TO HELP VIRGINIA RESIDENTS QUIT SMOKING

July 7, 2014

(Charlottesville, Va.)– Continuing with the success of last year’s landmark national tobacco education campaign, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is airing a second series of ads. The newest ads in the “Tips from Former Smokers” campaign tell the story of how people’s lives were changed forever due to their smoking. In Virginia, 9,000 adults die each year from smoking. The new ads will air from July 7 to September 7. The Tips campaign serves as an important counter to the more than $8.3 billion spent annually by the tobacco industry to make cigarettes more attractive and more affordable — particularly to youth and young adults.

The ads feature smoking-related health conditions that people don’t commonly associate with cigarette use—including gum disease, pre-term birth, and complications associated with HIV—and continue to emphasize more common conditions, like cancer. They encourage smokers to call 1-800-QUIT NOW, a toll-free number to access free quitting support across the country, or visit www.cdc.gov/tips to view the personal stories from the campaign and for free help quitting.

“These ads are effective in bringing to life the devastating effects of smoking, helping people to quit and never start,” says Kathryn Whitestone, health educator for the Thomas Jefferson Health District (TJHD). “Our Tobacco-Free Community Coalition is committed to helping residents in TJHD – those living in Charlottesville City, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson counties – know the reality of smoking-related disease and death, and to prevent these realities from happening to them, by promoting the Tips Campaign and offering local cessation programs.”

Free acupuncture is available every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Charlottesville/Albemarle Health Department to help reduce the discomfort when quitting smoking or using other tobacco products. Quit Smoking Charlottesville (QSC) is a support group for those trying to quit tobacco, or stay quit. QSC meetings will be held every Thursday in July from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. in Room 255A at the Jefferson City Center. No advance registration is needed for acupuncture or QSC. Please contact Kathryn Whitestone at Kathryn.Whitestone@vdh.virginia.gov or 434-972-6244 for more details regarding local tobacco cessation options.

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States. It kills about 480,000 Americans each year. For every person who dies from a smoking-related disease, about 30 more people suffer at least one serious illness from smoking. Nearly 70% of smokers say they want to quit. This campaign will provide them with information and resources to do so. For more information on the campaign, including profiles of the former smokers, links to the ads, and free quit help, visit www.cdc.gov/tips.