Statement by Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.,
President Emeritus of the Morehouse School of Medicine and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services On the Fifth Anniversary of truth® and Release of "Evidence of a Dose-Response Relation Between truth® Antismoking Ads and Youth Smoking Prevalence"
Wednesday, February 23, 2005, Washington, D.C.
Every day over 4,000 children try a cigarette for the first time; by the time they leave high school, 25 percent of all children will be habitual smokers. We all know the terrible harms that tobacco use can cause. Ending smoking by American children and teens is crucial to the health of our nation.
Raising the price of cigarettes has not been enough. Warning vendors not to sell cigarettes to minors has not been enough. Prohibiting tobacco companies from advertising to children has not been enough: even today candy-flavored cigarettes are being marketed to our youth. It is clear that so long as children want cigarettes, they will find a way to get them.
That is why it is imperative that our youth continually be educated about tobacco so they can be wary consumers. And the American Legacy Foundation's truth® campaign communicates with teens, peer to peer so that they learn to reject tobacco.
The report released today proves yet again that the truth® campaign is the most successful national media effort ever conducted to reduce youth smoking. In 2002, there were 300,000 fewer youth smokers because of truth® . Assuming those kids remain smoke-free, truth® may have already prevented up to 100,000 premature deaths and saved up to one billion dollars in medical expenditures and loss of productivity.
If the tobacco companies really care about our children, if they care about our health as a nation, they would fund what we know works: the truth® campaign. I call upon the tobacco companies to make sure that our youth continue to be told the truth® about tobacco.
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