{"id":6141,"date":"2010-03-03T21:26:10","date_gmt":"2010-03-03T21:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=6141"},"modified":"2010-03-04T12:00:28","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T12:00:28","slug":"truth-campaign-can-save-half-a-million-lives-billions-of-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2010\/03\/truth-campaign-can-save-half-a-million-lives-billions-of-dollars\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Truth’ Campaign Can Save Half a Million Lives, Billions of Dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"

The truth youth anti-smoking campaign has the power to save hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars in smoking related health care costs and productivity losses, according to the Citizens’ Commission to Protect the Truth, a group composed of every former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and Health and Human Services with the exception of Michael Leavitt; every former U.S. Surgeon General; and every former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
\nA recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine indicated that the medical care costs averted by the truth\u00ae campaign \u2013 due to prevention of smoking \u2013 were far greater than the costs of the campaign itself and found that for every dollar invested in truth\u00ae, it is estimated that society saved over $6.80. The study focused on the period of 2000\u20132002. During this period of time, the truth\u00ae campaign has been credited with reducing the number of children and teen smokers by 300,000.
\nWe believe that if the truth\u00ae campaign continues for another five years (2009-2014) with similar effectiveness, there will be up to 500,000 fewer youth smokers with savings of up to $9.0 billion in future medical costs.
\nThe Commission based its analysis on the findings of the study presented in the May 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, which found that the decrease in the number of youth who initiated smoking as a result of truth\u00ae during the period of 2000\u20132002 may result in averting up to $5.4 billion in future medical costs.
\nAccording to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one-third of young smokers will die prematurely from smoking-related diseases. Since 80% of adult smokers began using tobacco products before the age of 18, the hundreds of thousands of children who opt not to smoke because of their exposure to truth\u00ae will almost certainly not become adult smokers.
\n“Ending smoking by American children and teens is crucial to the health and cost of healthcare to our nation. The truth\u00ae campaign provides a return on investment that would make the greediest corporate CEOs salivate. The truth\u00ae campaign is one of the most effective investments in the history of public health,” said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Commission Chairman and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare who started the national anti-smoking campaign in 1978. “truth\u00ae is the only national smoking prevention campaign not directed by the tobacco industry which exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking.”
\nThe American Legacy Foundation’s life-saving truth\u00ae campaign is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and an extraordinary public health story. The campaign is a national peer-to-peer intervention that works. In its first two years, truth\u00ae was responsible for 22% of the overall decline in youth smoking\u2014a decrease which represents approximately 300,000 fewer smokers. Peer reviewed studies, both old and new, underscore that truth\u00ae can inoculate teens against tobacco addiction. The truth\u00ae campaign’s successes are unassailable.
\nSource : Citizens Commission to Protect the Truth April 19, 2009<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The truth youth anti-smoking campaign has the power to save hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars in smoking related health care costs and productivity losses, according to the Citizens’ Commission to Protect the Truth, a group composed of every former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and Health and Human Services […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,40,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nicotine","category-prevention-research","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}