Cheryl Healton Quotations

It is intended to be a wake-up call to America about the fact that 500,000 people die prematurely a year due to tobacco use in America -- 50,000 of those die from the tobacco use of others,

When they first came out saying there were health effects of secondhand smoke years ago, they were treated with similar skepticism.

Tobacco use is the single most important preventable cause of death and disability in the United States. On some level, this foundation is the World Series of public health,

Tobacco-cessation programs are critical for the 45 million Americans who still smoke. Research shows 70 percent of smokers want to quit, but many lack the tools and resources needed to quit successfully. Help from friends, family and employers is critical to their success. Tobacco remains the number one cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 Americans each year. Initiatives such as the Gold Standard can provide smokers with the support they need to quit and stay quit.

Smoking in and of itself does not control weight, but there's no question that when people quit smoking, they often gain a few pounds, ... And for some industries, that can be a horrible thought.

This is the most careful analysis of the data up to the most current time frame that exists anywhere. It has gone substantially further than anything else I've seen and is carefully vetted through a group of very well-respected scientists.

Corporate citizen notwithstanding, ... a heck of a lot of Americans are dying prematurely due to this product.

The Master Settlement Agreement placed significant restrictions on the advertising and marketing practices of the tobacco companies, and also provided funding for an effective anti-smoking public education campaign targeted directly at youth. These new numbers conclusively demonstrate that the combination of these two factors -- together with the hard work of the Attorneys General and the public health community -- has resulted in major reduction in smoking rates since the MSA was signed.

We know how difficult it is and we don't blame the smoker, but we do want to have messages out there that are motivational and get people sort of going on the track of try and try again until they succeed (in quitting smoking),

Only a handful of states have used this money for its intended purpose.