Helping America Quit

The 26 years of the American Cancer Society's annual Great American Smokeout have greatly increased awareness across the country about the harms of smoking, according to publications from the ACS. \nThe tradition will continue on Thursday, the day of this year's Great American Smokeout. \nLisa VanPelt, Project Coordinator for the South Central Indiana Area branch of the ACS, said the event will help millions of smokers around the country stop smoking and will help educate children on the importance of never starting to smoke. \nAt IU, the Hoosiers Advocating a Tobacco Free Society, an organization within the Alcohol Drug Information Center, is the primary organization publicizing the Great American Smokeout. HATS is a new student-led coalition on campus, which has existed since September. It is sponsored by a grant from Smoke Free Indiana, which is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\nHATS officials said they intend to provide information about the harms of smoking to IU students in various ways. The organization will be in the IMU on Thursday to distribute information about how to quit all forms of tobacco usage. There will be a coalition meeting at 5:30 p.m., Thursday in Ballantine Hall 141.\nHATS will also hold a poster contest beginning on Thursday. Jennifer Knoeber, an IU graduate assistant for HATS, said the two themes for the contest are the danger of second-hand smoke and the tobacco industries' targeting of the college age population. \nThe contest will run until Jan. 15, after which first, second and third place winners in each category will be announced. Prizes have not been determined, however, the first place winners' posters will be reproduced and posted around campus. \nKnoeber said she hopes the coalition's efforts will be effective in counteracting the tobacco industry's targeting of the college age segment of society. \n"Part of the Master Tobacco Settlement was that the tobacco industry wouldn't target minors anymore," Knoeber said. "So they've moved to the next age group up, which is the 18 to 24-year-old population."\nAlthough HATS is a relatively new organization at IU, interest in the coalition and in discussing tobacco-related issues is extensive on campus. \nAt the Nov. 6 Health Fair, an average of one person every five minutes signed up to become involved in the coalition throughout the six-hour fair, Knoeber said. She also said she expects a significant turnout at the coalition meeting on Thursday.\nOff campus organizations are also participating in the Great American Smokeout event, VanPelt said.\nBusinesses and restaurants in the Bloomington area have decided to go smoke-free for the day, including the Tree of Life workplace, Bloomingfoods, Pizza Hut South and Chicago's Pizza. VanPelt said that it's often difficult to get businesses to agree to go smoke-free because of the fear of losing profits, but she said the benefits of smoke-free environment in the workplace will eventually outweigh potential profit-loss worries.\nThursday there will be a table set up in the Bloomington Hospital's front hallway with ACS brochures about the harmful effects of smoking, the benefits of quitting and tips for those who want to quit but do not know how to begin. Additional paraphernalia such as "I can quit" buttons, ACS post-it-notes and stickers will be available. The hospital will be offering free carbon monoxide testing for individuals.\nVan Pelt said she has long term anti-smoking goals that go beyond the Great American Smokeout.\n"It would be so nice if we could get restaurants and businesses to go totally smoke free," she said. "It's probably a long shot, but it would be really nice for that to happen." \nVanPelt said she would like to reduce the amount of smoking in bowling alleys and other places with high second-hand smoke levels. \nAlthough the Great American Smokeout lasts just one day, support systems are in place all over Bloomington to encourage people to stop smoking throughout the year. The American Cancer Society's "Fresh Start Program" is a support group at the Bloomington Hospital, but there is also a free service at IU. \nAlthough Knoeber and VanPelt said they are optimistic about the outcome of this year's Great American Smokeout, some students said they are rather skeptical. \nSenior Brooke Seldin said she does not think that one day of publicized awareness will significantly affect the population of smokers. \nSeldin has been a smoker for 8 years and during that time she has tried to quit twice but neither time was successful. \n"In terms of individuals, (the Great American Smokeout) wouldn't be enough for them," she said. "To quit... you have to really want to quit"