Statement by Amy Niles, President and CEO
National Women's Health Resource Center
June 3, 2004
America
Must Work Toward Eliminating the Disease Toll of Smoking
Cites New Surgeon General's Report on the Health Effects of Smoking
On May 31, while Americans paid tribute to our many veterans, unfortunately, another annual event - World No Tobacco Day, that was supposed to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco use, received little attention..
Even the release of a new report by the U.S. Surgeon General expanding the list of diseases associated with smoking, seems to have gone relatively unnoticed.
More than 12 million Americans have died from smoking since the first report of the U.S. Surgeon General in 1964, that linked smoking with cancer of the lung and larynx and of chronic bronchitis in men and women.
Today Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a lung disease generally associated with smoking, and often referred to as "smoker's lung," is rapidly rising - with women accounting for a major portion of the increase. The disease is expected to become the third leading cause of death in the United States by the year 2020. Today, more women die of lung cancer than all reproductive cancers and the lives of women smokers are cut short by 14.5 years. And, every day, 4,000 children try their first cigarette and another 2,000 become regular, daily smokers. That is more than 730,000 new underage daily smokers each year.
The National
Women's Health Resource Center, a leading source of health information for women,
urges this newspaper and every news outlet in the country to help its readers,
especially its women readers, to quit smoking. You can do this by writing more
about this critical health issue, and linking women with important resources
to help them quit smoking.
An estimated 440,000 Americans will die during the coming year of smoking related
diseases. We must all work toward reducing, if not eliminating, the death,
disability and economic toll of smoking.