Volunteers and staff from the Health Education Center will be distributing educational materials and publicizing the national event. Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in society, according to the American Cancer Society.
Tobacco use is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the United States.
Data from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study II show that smoking accounts for at least 29 percent of all cancer deaths and that approximately half of all continuing smokers die prematurely from smoking. In addition to being responsible for 87 percent of lung cancers, smoking is also associated with cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, uterine cervix, kidney and bladder. According to the American Cancer Society, many college-age people have smoked for years because they started as teenagers. Many smokers would like to quit but find creating and implementing a plan difficult. One day without smoking may be the first step on a journey toward being smoke-free for a lifetime.