News Release

Statement by Mike Leavitt Secretary of Health and Human Services Regarding the Announcement by Pizza Hut and KFC Restaurants to Ban Smoking

I applaud the decision by the Pizza Hut and KFC restaurant chains to ban smoking nationally in all their restaurants. We've known for decades that smoking is bad for your health and is the leading preventable cause of death and disease. What starts as a single puff can become a death sentence for millions of Americans. In fact, the most recent Surgeon General's report* on tobacco confirms that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body.

Furthermore, second-hand smoke is also harmful and hazardous to the health of the general public and is particularly dangerous to children. If we are going to be serious about improving health and preventing disease, we must continue to drive down tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke in this country. Efforts such as these are vital to our success.

But if you smoke, it is never too late to stop. And HHS can help. If you are thinking of quitting, please call our national quitline number (1-800-QUITNOW), which can put you in touch with a variety of programs that can help you give up tobacco. In addition, a new HHS Web site (www.smokefree.gov) offers online advice and downloadable information to help make it easier to stop smoking.

We need to reduce smoking in this country. Tobacco use costs us too many lives, too many dollars and too many tears.

*The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General is available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/smokingconsequences/.