"The latest outcomes measuring the impact of CDCs national tobacco education campaign are as strong as those achieved in its first year and suggest that three years into the campaign the ads were still having a significant impact. More than . million smokers attempted to quit smoking because of the nineweeklong  Tips From Former Smokers  Tips  campaign. An estimated  Americans quit smoking for good as a result of the  campaign. The survey results are published in the March  release of the journal Preventing Chronic Disease. Unlike the  campaign which aired for  consecutive weeks the  campaign aired in two phases from February  to April  and from July  to September . Phase  of the  campaign ran ads primarily from the  and  campaigns Phase  contained new ads. Those new ads featured people and their struggles with smokingrelated health issues including cancer gum disease premature birth and stroke caused by smoking combined with HIV. About  percent of U.S. adult cigarette smokers who were surveyed reported seeing at least one television ad from Phase  of the  campaign. CDCs Tips campaign has helped at least  smokers quit smoking for good since  said CDC Director Tom Frieden M.D. M.P.H.  Tips is also extremely costeffective and a best buy saving both lives and money. With a yearround campaign we could save even more lives and money. Tips the first federally funded antismoking paid media campaign features former smokers talking about their smokingrelated illnesses. Smokingrelated diseases cost the United States more than  billion a year including nearly  billion in direct health care costs and more than  billion in lost productivity. The Tips campaign is an important counter measure to the  million that the tobacco industry spends each hour on cigarette advertising and promotion said Corinne Graffunder Dr.P.H. director of CDCs Office on Smoking and Health. The money spent in one year on Tips is less than the amount the tobacco industry spends on advertising and promotion in just  days. The most recent Surgeon Generals Report The Health Consequences of Smoking Years of Progress called for airing effective messages such as the Tips ads with high frequency and exposure for  months a year for a decade or more.  Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States killing about  Americans each year. For every American who dies from a smokingrelated disease about  more suffer at least one serious illness from smoking. And while the percentage of American adults who smoke is at the lowest level since the CDC began tracking such data there are still an estimated  million adult smokers in the U.S.  Surveys show about  percent of all smokers want to quit and research shows quitting completely at any age has significant health benefits. Tips ads encourage smokers to call QUITNOW or to visit  http to view the personal stories from the campaign.  The website includes detailed assistance developed by the National Cancer Institute to support smokers trying to quit.  For more information on the Tips campaign including profiles of the former smokers other campaign resources and links to the ads visit  http"