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Celebrate The Great American Smokeout On November 17, 2005

Smoke Free Society today announced plans to offer its Proven Stop Smoking Technique as a free online download during the month of November in celebration of the annual Great American Smokeout to be held on November 17.

Smoke Free Society has announced plans to offer its "Proven Stop Smoking Technique" as a free online download during the month of November in celebration of the annual Great American Smokeout to be held on November 17, 2005. The Great American Smokeout encourages smokers to quit for one day, in the hope that they will quit for good. Millions of smokers are expected to quit for the day; many are likely to quit permanently, especially if they use modern cessation methods.

This whole month of November, help loved-ones quit smoking for good by downloading the free "Proven Stop Smoking Technique" available at www.SmokeFreeSociety.org or by using the other quit-smoking plans offered by Smoke Free Society. The Smoke Free Society is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping smokers quit and educating kids not to start. Its "Proven Stop Smoking Technique" helps smokers quit smoking in just 17 days without use of any substance or drug. It also helps smokers understand the hazardous effects their smoking has on their loved ones' lives.

"If we care and want a healthier future, we must all work together to help our friends and loved ones quit smoking. Because when someone quits smoking, they not only improve their own life, their secondhand smoke no longer harms or kills their loved ones around them," said Rez Seyedin, founder of Smoke Free Society.

The National Cancer Institute reports that about half the smoke generated by every cigarette is sidestream smoke, commonly known as secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke contains the same harmful substances as mainstream smoke - cancer-causing chemicals, toxins that alter the normal growth of cells and mutagens that damage DNA.

According to Dr. Katherine Hammond at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, non-smokers receive the equivalent of cigarette smoking just by being around smokers:

In the non-smoking section of a restaurant = 1.5 cigarettes
In a pack-a-day smoker's home = 3 cigarettes
In a smoky bar for two hours = 4 cigarettes
Riding in a car one hour with a smoker = 4 cigarettes

"Tragically, one out of four Americans smoke. That means in a family of four, either the father or mother, or both, are smokers endangering their lives as well as their two children's lives and future. Sadly, an average smoker spends over $1,800 a year on their cigarettes alone, and that doesn't include all other related costs. A Duke University study puts the true cost of lifetime smoking at $40 a pack - money that could be used to provide food, education, healthcare and well being for their family," continued Seyedin.

Visit www.SmokeFreeSociety.org for more information.

For related photo, visit http://www.smokefreesociety.org/Press/PRelease/GreatSmokeout-1.asp

History of the Great American Smokeout

Even though the Smokeout officially began in 1977, the event's roots reach back to 1971, when Arthur P. Mullaney challenged the citizens of Randolf, Mass. to give up cigarettes for a day and donate the saved money to a high school scholarship fund. Mullaney coined the term Smokeout. Later, Lynn R. Smith, editor of the Monticello Times in Minnesota, spearheaded that state's first D-Day, or Don't Smoke Day. D-Day spread throughout Minnesota, and then headed west to California where it became the Great American Smokeout.