It's been almost 60 years since the U.S. Surgeon General officially announced that smoking tobacco can lead to lung cancer. Even so, an estimated 1 in 5 American adults still smoke, and today The American Cancer Society hopes those people will collectively give up the habit. It's the 37th annual Great American Smokeout, a national awareness campaign encouraging smokers to use the day as their "quit date". But, as Arizona Public Radio's Gillian Ferris reports, giving up nicotine isn't always that easy, especially for long-time smokers.
About 24 hours ago, I grabbed my radio kit and followed my co-worker, Lynda Clewell, out of the building and across the street to her smoke break spot. I ambush-interviewed her while she had one of the last cigarettes she ever hopes to smoke. "When I want a cigarette, I definitely want a cigarette," Clewell says. "There's no, 'nah...I don't need to do that now'. It's something that does sort of own me."
Clewell started smoking when she was 14. And for almost 30 years now, she's smoked between 10 and 20 cigarettes a day. She's tried to quit before, and will try again during the Great American Smokeout. But, Clewell admits she's afraid she'll be pulled back into the powerful addiction. "There is some fear that I might fail again at this whole quitting thing, and that's really sad," she says. "But, I'm hopeful this time, and I'm thinking that I'll probably go and buy an E-Cigarette, a vaporizer."
E-Cigarettes are battery powered devices that look a lot like the real thing. But instead of delivering nicotine to the body through tobacco combustion - the most dangerous part of smoking - they deliver it through a water and glycol-based vapor. Brad Rodu is an oral pathologist and professor of medicine at the University of Louisville's School of Medicine. He says, "E-Cigarettes and other smoke-free products are a way for the smoker to take back a measure of control over that behavior and reduce his or her risk for a number of deadly diseases."
For 20 years, Rodu's research has focused on Tobacco Harm Reduction, the substitution of safer tobacco products by people who aren't able - or willing - to quit. "Keep in mind," Rodu says, "that cigarettes are the most dangerous and toxic consumer product in the United States. And so, smoke-free tobacco products represent an enormous reduced risk potential for smokers." He adds, "Many, many of the nation's 45,000,000 smokers do not want to quit."
Rodu's work is controversial. Some in his field think health professionals should only recommend total cessation and abstinence when it comes to smoking. Others speculate Rodu might be getting kickbacks from companies that manufacture smokeless devices. He openly discloses that the University of Louisville's School of Medicine has - for decades - received research grants from the tobacco industry. But, Rodu maintains he is in no way connected to it. He believes his research model offers a realistic and compassionate alternative to some of the most deeply addicted smokers.
61 year old Jimmy Grissam is a retired river guide who runs a small upholstery business in Flagstaff. As he lights up an unfiltered Camel cigarette, he talks about growing up on a farm in central California where he says he started smoking at the age of 12. "Before I smoked cigarettes," Grissam says, "I pilfered cigars from the people who raised me, and I soaked them in whiskey in order that I expected a double punch."
Grissam says he knows a lot of people who've switched to E-Cigarettes to try and stop smoking, and he's supportive of their efforts. It's just not something he's interested in doing. "You're still supplying nicotine, so what are you eliminating?" Grissam asks. "The smoke? I've got 61 years of smoke in my lungs, you know?"
Smoking-related behaviors and attitudes in the U.S. vary widely, from those who can't imagine lighting up, to those who can't imagine NOT lighting up, to those who imagine they'll never light up again. No matter where you are on the spectrum, the next 24 hours is a time when many Americans will give the habit at least some thought.