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	Vol.7, No 47, November 18, 1999
	Smokeout helps smokers quit By Sarah LaVoie Daily Forty-Niner Today is the day to throw out your butts and kick ash for the 23rd annual Great American Smokeout. The American Cancer Society is asking smokers to give up their cigarettes all day, with the hopes of launching a smoke-free lifetime . "It's the largest one-day effort in the United States," said Alan Henderson, Cal State Long Beach health science professor and former California cancer society president. "If you can quit for one day, it will increase the likelihood of not smoking the next day, and so on from there," Henderson said. "Quitting smoking really is a one-day-at-a-time thing." Last year, 19 percent of smokers participated and more than 89,000 adults reported that, one to five days after the event, they were smoking less or not at all, according to cancer society statistics. "Smoking is the No.1 preventable cause of premature disease and death in the United States," according to the cancer society. "Eighty percent of smokers say that they would like to quit." Henderson said he smoked while in college, but quit before the Surgeon General's report on the effects of smoking was published in 1964. Since that report's publication, 10 million Americans have died from tobacco-related diseases, Henderson said. Approximately 5,000 adolescents, ages 11-17, smoke for the first time each day, according to an article in the October issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. Of these adolescents about 80 percent are between ages 11 and 15, and nearly 2000 each day become established smokers. This year's major theme is "Teens Kick Ash." Nationwide events include youth-related activities in which teens target the tobacco industry to send the message that they are tired of the deception, said Sherryl Ramos, health educator for the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services Tobacco Education Program. "The goal is to reach the whole community, adults and youth, and to get them to start thinking about quitting and taking information and tools to help them quit," Ramos said. "We hope that this one day will help to quit not just for the day, but as a start toward quitting for a lifetime." Professional motorcycle racer Chris Ulrich is scheduled to appear today from 3:30 to 6 p.m. at a Long Beach smokeout event to be held at the Westside Boys and Girls Club. Quit smoking kits and other information can be obtained by calling The American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345.		Illustration by Jason Steinberg/ Daily Forty-Niner                                                               Smokeout helps smokers quit   Womenís forum gives ways to reduce holiday stress   Sex not taboo subject   MBAs earned faster at CSULB   Japanese tour group hopes to learn American ways   Police Log Donít blame police   Getaways good for piece of mind   Jumping the city 'Anywhere But Here' lacks creative storyline   Reviewer slams Pokemon, Pocket Size albums BASKETBALL PREVIEW Fall 99 ISSUES DAILY 49ER HOMEPAGE
Forty-Niner Publications, Department of Journalism, California State University, Long Beach ©1999 All rights reserved.