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truth® Saves 450,000 Lives and Nearly $2 Billion Dollars  

Three new research papers find that truth®, the national youth smoking prevention campaign from the American Legacy Foundation®, remains highly effective as well as cost-efficient in its mission to prevent the youth of America from beginning to smoke. Two of the papers are published online today from the April issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM), while the third study appears in the February issue of Ethnicity and Health.

The first paper appearing online today finds that truth® was directly responsible for keeping 450,000 teens from starting to smoke during its first four years, while the second study found that the campaign not only paid for itself in its first two years, but also saved between $1.9 and $5.4 billion in medical care costs to society. The two papers will be published in the April issue of AJPM but are available today on the Journal's Web site, www.ajpm-online.net. A third paper appearing in the February issue of Ethnicity and Health shows that youth exposed to the truth® campaign were more likely to have anti-tobacco beliefs and attitudes.

"These studies further validate the evolving approach to youth public education we have applied since the campaign first launched in 2000," said Dr. Cheryl G. Healton, President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation

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