By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Of New York’s nearly 1 million cigarette smokers, almost 7,500 die from smoking-related illnesses each year, according to a new anti-smoking campaign by the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The “Reverse the Damage” campaign seeks to educate New Yorkers about the health benefits of giving up smoking by sharing little-known facts to encourage quitting.
Graphic advertisements showing the dangers of tobacco will appear in the subway and on bus shelters, as well as on television and radio, the Associated Press reported.
One of the campaign’s commercials, which features a dramatic montage of open-heart surgeries, states that a smoker's risk of heart disease is cut in half one year after quitting.
Smokers swayed by the ads can also take advantage of the city's annual 16-day Nicotine Patch and Gum Giveaway, which will continue through March 25. Visit nyc.gov/nyquits or call 311 for details.
