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12:06 PM Tuesday, November 17, 2009

An Associated Press report last week revealed a distressing finding by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Cigarette smoking by American adults rose slightly for the first time in almost 15 years, “dashing health officials’ hopes that the U.S. smoking rate had moved permanently below 20 percent,” reported the AP’s Mike Stobbe. Just under 21 percent of U.S. adults said they were smokers in 2008, a rise from the previous year when the number was 19.8 percent.

It represented the first increase in adult smoking since 1994, experts said, and comes in spite of many public measures to discourage smoking, including Ohio’s ban on smoking in public places, approved by voters in November 2006.

So perhaps it’s fortunate that the American Cancer Society is observing its 34th annual “Great American Smokeout” on Thursday, Nov. 19. That observance has been held each year since 1976 to encourage smokers to give up tobacco — at least for one day — and live a healthier lifestyle.

“We know that quitting smoking is tough and most smokers try several times before quitting for good,” said Peter Osborne, public relations director for the American Cancer Society in Southwest Ohio. “We hope that smokers will use the Great American Smokeout to map out a course of action that will help them to quit, and in turn to stay well and celebrate more birthdays.”

The reason for concern has been documented for decades. Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death (443,000 a year) in the United States. As a friend, family member or neighbor, it’s heartwrenching to watch a loved one continue to smoke and possibly shorten his/her life.

The American Cancer Society also contends:

• Thirty percent of cancer deaths, including 87 percent of lung cancer deaths, can be attributed to tobacco.

• Smoking also accounts for $193 billion in health care expenditures and productivity losses. Any discussion about reforming our health care system must include a strategy for curbing smoking and getting these unnecessary health care costs under control.

• People who stop smoking before age 50 can cut their risk of dying in the next 15 years in half, compared to those who continue to smoke.

The CDC’s next report on adult smoking rates in 2009 should be interesting. With the nation feeling the full effects of the economic recession in 2009, you would expect that the purchase of cigarettes would fall as unemployment and poverty rates grow. Then again, the stress associated with this deep recession may have caused many former smokers to pick up that bad habit again — despite the cost. We hope not.

If you’re serious about giving up smoking, the Great American Smokeout Web site — www.cancer.org/GreatAmericans — has many tips and tools that can help. Or you can call the Society’s “Quit For Life” program — at (800) 227-2345 — that can offer valuable assistance.

This newspaper spent the month of October observing National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, examining local cancer rates, telling the stories of local survivors, and exploring the various options of treatment for patients. But no greater blow could be struck against the scourge of cancer than to eradicate the deadly habit of smoking.

If you are a smoker, we hope you will consider taking that first step on Thursday — during the Great American Smokeout. Please do it for those who care for and love you.

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