November 20 marks the American Cancer Society’s 33rd Great American Smokeout, a day encouraging smokers to quit for at least one day in the hope that this might help them stop permanently. We shall also not forget that November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, a month dedicated to raising awareness on the most devastating side effect of smoking: lung cancer.

According to the Lung Cancer Alliance, lung cancer killed 160,390 people last year, an average of 439 people a day. It is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, killing more people annually than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney and melanoma cancers combined. Most of those deaths, about 90 percent, were caused by smoking, according to the US National Cancer Institute.

There is still some good news in all these. According to a report released last week by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of US adults who smoke cigarettes has fallen below 20 percent. Is this a sign that people have begun realizing smoking’s horrifying side effects?

Although the decrease is seen as something positive, the incidence of deaths related to smoking is still on the rise. Almost one in five adult Americans smoke, and many former smokers are succumbing to their habit again. Not only smoking, but also secondhand smoking, known as environmental tobacco smoke, leads to death. Among the 438,000 people tobacco kills a year, 38,000 are non-smokers who just inhale tobacco smoke from the others. If the governments fail to adopt more aggressive measures to combat the smoking addiction, in the next century tobacco will kill one billion people worldwide.

Apart from lung and bronchial cancers, smokers are also susceptible of developing cancers of the stomach, larynx, mouth and pharynx, esophagus, pancreas, bladder and kidney and early cardiovascular disease. About half of all long-term smokers, particularly those who began smoking as teens, die prematurely, many in middle age.

The figures above should raise people’s awareness on the risks they expose from the first cigarette they have. In fact, the Great American Smokeout is an event organized by people for people. The day tries to underline the benefits a smoker would have if he only quit for a day. Doctors believe that a smoker’s blood pressure and pulse rate drop to normal within 20 minutes of his last cigarette. Breathing becomes easier within 3 days. Circulation improves, walking becomes easier, and lung function increases up to 30 percent within 2-3 months. Also, risk of coronary disease will be cut in half within a year.

If these benefits don’t convince you to give up smoking, the Great American Smokeout also draws attention to the many proven ways to encourage people to stop smoking. These include making it more affordable for people to use medical treatments, establishing smoke-free environmentalists in homes, workplaces and restaurants, increasing the price of cigarettes and mass media campaigns to inform and help motivate tobacco users to quit.

“Quitting smoking is the most important step smokers can take to improve their health and protect the health of nonsmoking family members. Smokers should be aware that there are treatments and services available to help them quit now more than ever before. Smokers can more than double their likelihood of successfully quitting by using medications and telephone counseling,” said Janet Collins, Ph.D., director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.