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World No-Tobacco Day --- May 31, 2001
World No-Tobacco Day is May 31, 2001. The theme, "Second-Hand Smoke
Kills---Let's Clear the Air," was designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to
raise awareness of the hazards of exposure to second-hand smoke. Tobacco use
worldwide will cause an estimated 10 million deaths annually by 2030
(1).
An effective strategy to promote and encourage tobacco-free policies is to
link them with sporting events. Such policies also reduce nonsmokers' exposure
to second-hand smoke (2). The 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, Alberta,
Canada, was the first tobacco-free Olympics. Since then, all of the Olympic Games have
had tobacco-free policies (3).
For the 2002 games, the Olympic organizing committee for Salt Lake City, Utah,
will implement a public information campaign using Olympic athletes to promote
healthy lifestyles and sports as an alternative to tobacco use. Plans also include information
to increase awareness of the tobacco-free policy among visitors, media, athletes,
and officials from participating countries.
Another media campaign is "Tobacco Kills---Don't Be Duped," which aims to
ban tobacco advertising and promotion at sporting events globally. Additional
information about World No-Tobacco Day 2001 is available at http://tobacco.who.int*, and
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco; telephone (800) 232-1311.
References
World Health Organization. Combating the tobacco epidemic. World
Health Organization's world health report 1999. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health
Organization, 1999:6579.
CDC. National report on human exposure to environmental chemicals. Atlanta,
Georgia: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, National Center for
Environmental Health, Division of Laboratory Sciences, 2001. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/dls/report. Accessed March 2001.
World Health Organization. Sports and the arts without tobacco: play it tobacco
free. Tobacco alert, 1996 World No-Tobacco Day advisory kit. Geneva, Switzerland:
World Health Organization, 1996.
*References to sites of nonfederal organizations on the World-Wide Web are
provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply endorsement of
these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content of pages found at these sites.
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