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CDC works 24/7 to save lives and protect people.
Tobacco use remains America's leading cause
of preventable death, but we can change that.
In 2012, CDC's Tips from Former Smokers media campaign,
made possible by the Prevention Fund of the Affordable Care Act,
pulled back the curtain and we showed Americans the tragedies
that we, as health care professionals,
see day in and day out.
For three months last year, we ran print
and television ads showing the real stories
of real people living
with smoking-related disease and disability.
Immediately after this campaign, nearly a quarter
of a million Americans quit smoking.
And, after they saw the ads, millions of nonsmokers talked
to friends and families about the dangers of smoking
and referred them to programs that could help them quit
and could save their lives.
It's not easy for most people to quit smoking, but most Americans
who have ever smoked have already quit, and most people
who smoke today want to quit.
The impact of this ad campaign is further proof that sustained,
hard-hitting media campaigns, such as Tips, save lives.
The tobacco companies spend
about a million dollars every hour of every day
to keep Americans smoking.
In fact, they spend more in three days than we were able
to spend in a whole year running these ads.
It's really a David and Goliath fight, and in this case,
I'm happy to say that David is winning, and because of that,
more and more smokers are quitting,
fewer kids are starting to smoke, and Americans are going
to live longer and healthier lives.