Marie Burns didn't smoke during the Great American Smokeout in 1994.
She wasn't really trying to quit. She just wanted to see what it was like to go for the whole day without a cigarette.She never picked up a cigarette again, she said.
That's the ultimate goal of the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout, which will take place across America on Thursday. For more than two decades, on the third Thursday in November, the society has encouraged people to quit for a day -- and a lot of them decide to quit for a lifetime.
But where the smokeout was originally designed to help adults quit smoking for one day, the focus has broadened. Now it's as much about keeping young kids from picking up the habit as it is about helping nicotine-addicted adults quit.
That's why students are usually included in the festivities, according to James Jardine, publicist for the society's Rocky Mountain Division. Tuesday, students at Central High School "trashed tobacco" by putting giant cigarettes into garbage trucks to symbolize "crushing" tobacco addiction. And Thursday, Carrie Christopherson's first-grade class will demonstrate the importance of healthy lungs with a bubble-gum blowing contest, which will be judged by University of Utah mascot Swoop.
The decision to target prevention of youth smoking was very deliberate. Smoking among Utah's youths has increased by 54 percent from 1984 to 1999. And since most smokers take up the habit before age 19, the American Cancer Society hopes to encourage children to refrain from using tobacco products.
As for the adults, about 19 percent of those who smoke reported they were participating in the smokeout last year. And of those, about 10 percent said they were smoking less or not at all one to five days later.
More men smoke than women, but together, in 1995, they totaled 47 million adult smokers in the United States.
Every year, more than 400,000 people die from smoking-related diseases. That's more than from alcohol, cocaine, crack, heroin, murders, suicide, car accidents and AIDS combined, according to the American Cancer Society.
At least one local business is having fun with the smokeout, while promoting employee health. For the last month, Oakland Construction has included information on the smokeout, the effects of smoking and reasons to give it up in each paycheck. "We all know it's not good for you," said John McEntire, chief financial officer for Oakland. "Here's a chance to participate. And we've had information sheets on smoking at our weekly safety meetings."
During the Great American Smokeout, the company will position wheel barrows at the entrance to each of their multiple job sites, with signs asking employees to give up whatever habit they're addicted to, from smoking to chewing gum to eating too much cake. "We want them to throw it into the wheel barrow," he said. "To go cold turkey that day. And we're providing cold turkey sandwiches for all the Oakland employees on the job sites."