truth(R) Campaign Can Save Half a Million Lives and Billions of Dollars

NEW YORK, April 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The truth(R) 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.

A recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine
indicated that the medical care costs averted by the truth(R) campaign - due
to prevention of smoking - were far greater than the costs of the campaign
itself and found that for every dollar invested in truth(R), it is estimated
that society saved over $6.80. The study focused on the period of 2000-2002.
During this period of time, the truth(R) campaign has been credited with
reducing the number of children and teen smokers by 300,000.

We believe that if the truth(R) campaign continues for another five years
(2009-2015) 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.

The 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(R) during the period of 2000-2002 may result in averting up to $5.4
billion in future medical costs.

According 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(R) will almost certainly not become adult smokers.

"Ending smoking by American children and teens is crucial to the health and
cost of healthcare to our nation. The truth(R) campaign provides a return on
investment that would make the greediest corporate CEOs salivate. The
truth(R) 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(R) 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."

The American Legacy Foundation's life-saving truth(R) 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(R) was responsible for 22% of the overall decline
in youth smoking - a decrease which represents approximately 300,000 fewer
smokers. Peer reviewed studies, both old and new, underscore that truth(R)
can inoculate teens against tobacco addiction. The truth(R) campaign's
successes are unassailable.

Investments in youth smoking prevention campaigns like truth(R) provide
enormous returns by way of preventing the health care costs associated with
smoking. In these difficult economic times, we must remember that the cost
savings for preventing people from starting to smoke and helping those who
already smoke to quit, can have a major fiscal impact on both health care
costs and the general economy.

The Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth was formed to shine a spotlight
on the continued need to fund truth(R), the only independent national youth
counter marketing campaign with demonstrated results in keeping children and
teens from smoking. Among its efforts, the Commission is demanding that big
tobacco companies continue financing the Public Education Fund under the
Master Settlement Agreement reached with the states in 1998. After March
2003, the tobacco companies (Phillip Morris (Altria), Brown and Williamson,
R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard) were no longer required under the agreement to
make annual payments to the Public Education Fund, which enables the American
Legacy Foundation to conduct the truth(R) campaign. The payments are required
only if the participating tobacco manufacturers control 99.05 percent of the
cigarette market. Although participating companies no longer meet that
threshold, their market share remains well above 90 percent. The Citizens'
Commission also files amicus briefs in pending litigation against tobacco
companies in order to bring to the attention of presiding judges the
importance of funding truth(R) and ask that the judges include orders to fund
the campaign as a remedy for tobacco company misconduct.

For more information on the Commission, visit its Web site at
www.ProtectTheTruth.org.

Citizens' Commission Members

U.S. Secretaries of Health, Education and Welfare

-- David Mathews, Ph.D., Ford Administration - 1975-1977

-- Commission Chairman Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Carter Administration -
1977-1979

U.S. Secretaries of Health and Human Services

-- Richard S. Schweiker, Reagan Administration, 1981-1983
-- Margaret M. Heckler, Reagan Administration, 1983-1985
-- Otis R. Bowen, M.D., Reagan Administration, 1985-1989
-- Louis Sullivan, M.D., GHW Bush Administration, 1989-1993
-- Donna E. Shalala, Ph.D., Clinton Administration, 1993-2001

-- Tommy G. Thompson, GW Bush Administration, 2001-2005

Surgeons General

-- Jesse Steinfeld, M.D., Nixon Administration, 1969-1973
-- C. Everett Koop, M.D., Reagan Administration, 1982-1989
-- Antonia C. Novello, M.D., M.P.H., DrPH, GHW Bush Administration,
1990-1993
-- M. Joycelyn Elders, M.D., Clinton Administration, 1993-1994
-- David Satcher, M.D., Clinton/GW Bush Administrations, 1998-2002

-- Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, GW Bush Administration,
2002-2006

Directors of the Center for Disease Control

-- David J. Sencer, M.D., Johnson/Nixon/Ford Administrations, 1966-1977
-- William H. Foege, M.D., M.P.H., Carter/Reagan Administrations,
1977-1983

-- James O. Mason, M.D., DrPH, Reagan Administration, 1983-1989

Directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

-- William L. Roper, M.D., M.P.H., GHW Bush Administration, 1990-1993
-- David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., Clinton Administration, 1993-1998
-- Jeffrey P. Koplan, M.D., M.P.H., Clinton/GW Bush Administration,
1998-2002

-- Julie Louise Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H., GW Bush Administration,
2002-2009

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click
appropriate link.
Joseph A. Califano, Jr.
https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=44849

SOURCE Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth

Lauren Duran, +1-212-841-5260, lduran@casacolumbia.org, or Sulaiman Beg,
+1-212-841-5213, sbeg@casacolumbia.org, both of CASA