Washington, 15 mar ( EFE).-EE.UU. It will launch Next Monday a national campaign in English and Spanish against tobacco, which used stunning ads with images of quitters with illnesses contracted because of his addiction.

The initiative, under the name “quitters” Councils, will tell stories of former addicts who suffer from diseases and disabilities associated with smoking, and the effects this has on their families, according to detailed today in a statement the centres for the Control and Prevention ( CDC), a federal institution.

Ads rely on stories as Annete, of New York, diagnosed of cancer at the age of 52, which displays a deep scar on the back of the House and gives the viewer a recommendation: “once they removed a lung, avoid breathing deeply”.

“Be careful not to cut off around the hole in the throat”, advises in another message Shawn, diagnosed at the age of 46 of throat cancer and that appears in the image shaving with sequelae in the neck of a tracheotomy.

Ads will be disseminated since Monday on television and radio, on the internet and in theaters, in the written press and on billboards around the country for at least 12 weeks.

Its leaders explained that posts will focus on throat, heart attacks, accidents and lung cancer stroke, Buerger disease and asthma.

Include a toll-free number and a web site to receive help to quit smoking.

The Secretary of health and human services.UU., Kathleen Sebelius, said in the statement that “hundreds of thousands of lives are lost each year due to tobacco use and, for each person who dies, 20 other Americans living with a disease caused by tobacco”.

“We are committed to do everything possible to help smokers stop smoking and avoid that young people will start in the first place”, added.

To the federal Government, the “quitters”Councils”should also help to deter young people from starting to smoke.

The campaign comes after a federal judge to block at the end of February, a plan of the US Government that it intended to include in packets of tobacco images of impact, something that the tobacco industry saw as a violation of their right to freedom of expression.

The U.S. Department of health and human services today recalled that smoking continues to be the leading cause of death and diseases avoidable in the country, causing about 443,000 deaths within the year.

It is estimated that more than eight million Americans living with a contracted smoking-related disease, and every day more than a thousand young people under the age of 18 become regular smokers.

U.S. health authorities estimate that 70 percent of smokers said wanting to stop smoking. EFE

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