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(NAPSI)-By harnessing the power of NASCAR, the effort to help millions of Americans quit smoking has just picked up speed.
Smoking Statistics
In the United States, an estimated 25.6 million men and 22.6 million women are smokers. According to the American Heart Association, however, more than four in five smokers say they want to quit. Each year, about 1.3 million smokers do quit. In addition to reducing the risk of lung cancer, benefits of quitting include:
• After one year off cigarettes, the excess risk of heart disease caused by smoking is reduced by half. After 15 years of abstinence, the risk is similar to that for people who've never smoked.
• In five to 15 years, the risk of stroke for ex-smokers returns to the level of those who've never smoked.
With good smoking cessation programs, 20 to 40 percent of participants are able to quit smoking and stay off cigarettes for at least one year. Combining interventions such as physician advice and follow-up with nicotine gum and behavior modification may increase success rates.
Nicorette and NASCAR
Nicorette®-the popular stop-smoking aid-has signed on to be an associate NASCAR sponsor for the 2005 season. As a result, the key message of kicking the habit will be delivered-at more than 200 miles per hour-to more than 75 million racing fans across the country.
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, maker of Nicorette, nicotine gum, NicoDerm® CQ® nicotine patches and Commit® nicotine lozenges, will also partner with NASCAR to help the general public learn how they can lead smoke-free lives.
"In racing, first is a good thing, so we're excited to partner with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare as the first quit-smoking product sponsor in NASCAR," said Casey Mears, driver of Chip Ganassi Racing Team's No. 41 Target Dodge Charger. It's great to work with a sponsor that not only helps us but the fans as well."
Quit-Smoking Resource
GSK Consumer Healthcare will be reaching out to NASCAR fans that want to quit smoking at 23 races this season via its Winner's Circle exhibit, with the theme "Quitting is Winning." Additionally, "Quitting Crew" is a new reality Web-based program introducing five NASCAR fans who are quitting on GlaxoSmithKline's quit-smoking products.
More information about the NASCAR quitters and quitting smoking is available at www.quit.com.
Thanks to a new sponsorship agreement, more than 75 million NASCAR fans are now getting an important quit-smoking message at this season's races.