Statement by Tommy G. Thompson, 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.
I am honored to join the Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth, the most impressive group of public health experts ever assembled. Smoking is the number one cause of preventable health problems in this country.
Too many of our loved ones are lost prematurely as a result of the evils of smoking: what begins as a single puff can become a death sentence for millions of Americans. The best way to achieve a tobacco-free society is for children never to light that first cigarette.
While I was at HHS, I would see people smoking outside of my office building and would actually take the cigarettes out of their mouths; I would tell them that I love them and want them to be healthy. I wish I could patrol all the schoolyards of America, pulling cigarettes from the mouths of our children, but I can't. That is why we need a campaign to reach out to kids and convince them not to pick up a cigarette in the first place.
The report released today proves that the American Legacy Foundation's truth® campaign teaches children to reject tobacco; the truth® campaign is the most effective media tool we have to combat youth smoking. The dangers of smoking are well known. It is vitally important to our future and the health of our children that the truth® campaign continue to be funded.
I look forward to working with the Citizens' Commission to help keep the truth® campaign alive.
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