Legacy and BODIES...The Exhibition Partner to Encourage Life Without Cigarettes During Lung Cancer Awareness Month

Partnership Illustrates the Cause and Effect of Smoking on the Body

WASHINGTON and ATLANTA, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- During November's Lung Cancer Awareness Month, Premier Exhibitions Inc., organizers of BODIES...The Exhibition, and Legacy, creators of the EX campaign, announced a partnership aimed to empower and encourage the more than 46 million smokers throughout the United States to take the first steps to quit and to draw attention to the effects of smoking on the human body.

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Together the groups will provide visitors to BODIES…The Exhibition with information on how to attempt to quit smoking and educate them on the consequences that smoking can have on the body through actual organ displays – a healthy lung is featured next to a black lung ravaged by smoking in a vivid comparison more powerful than any textbook image. Visitors empowered to quit smoking on the spot can leave their last pack of cigarettes in a repository provided inside the Exhibition.

"Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, and cigarette smoking causes most cases of lung cancer. Nearly 75 percent of lung cancer deaths in women and almost 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in men are a result of smoking. This month is time for us to remember those who have died from the disease, as well as time to increase awareness surrounding this important topic," said Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH, President and CEO of Legacy. "We hope that this partnership brings added light to the harmful effects of tobacco addiction on the body, provides resources to BODIES...The Exhibition visitors and encourages smokers to quit."

BODIES...The Exhibition, seen by more than 15 million individuals around the world, provides an amazing look into the human body, unlike any biology and anatomy models and diagrams, through the use of real three-dimensional human bodies that have been meticulously dissected and preserved. BODIES…The Exhibition helps people understand what lies beneath their skin, how magnificently complex their bodies are, how they are put together, how they function, how they are impacted by disease and how they can take better care of themselves.

"Educating the public about prevention of diseases such as lung cancer has always been a focal point in BODIES...The Exhibition," stated Kris Hart, Chief Marketing Officer, Premier Exhibitions, Inc. "To be able to extend that education through our partnership with Legacy, is a critical step in helping eliminate the disease."

EX, a national quit smoking campaign spearheaded by Legacy, provides free evidence-based tools to help smokers quit, including information that can help them prepare for a quit attempt by 1.) "Re-learning" their thinking on the behavioral aspects of smoking and how different smoking triggers can be overcome with practice and preparation; 2.) "Re-learning" their knowledge of addiction and how medications can increase their chances for quitting success; and 3.) "Re-learning" their ideas of how support from friends and family members can play a critical role in quitting. BecomeAnEX.org is a convening point for smokers who want to quit and collaborate on their successes and challenges in the difficult quit process.

"Tobacco-related death is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and, if we can positively influence one person who visits BODIES...The Exhibition and sees the damage caused by smoking, then we have done our job," stated Dr. Roy Glover, Chief Medical Director, BODIES…The Exhibition. "We are thrilled to form a partnership with EX, and we look forward to jointly developing innovative, impactful ways to continue to educate the public on smoking's harmful effects."

Most smokers in America – 70 percent – want to quit, but, in 2009, only about five percent of smokers were successful in quitting long-term. During November's Lung Cancer Awareness Month, EX and BODIES...The Exhibition, hope to arm smokers nationwide with all the available information to make the best, most informed choices about the smoking cessation resources available to them.

For more information about BODIES…The Exhibition, please visit www.bodiestheexhibition.com.

For more information about EX, and to download a free quit plan, please visit www.BecomeAnEx.org.

For more information about Legacy, please visit www.legacyforhealth.org.

Premier Exhibitions Inc.

Premier Exhibitions, Inc. is a major provider of museum-quality exhibitions throughout the world. Premier Exhibitions Inc. is a recognized leader in developing and displaying unique exhibitions for education and entertainment. The Company's exhibitions present unique opportunities to experience compelling stories using authentic objects and artifacts in diverse environments. Exhibitions are presented in museums, exhibition centers and other entertainment venues. The company produces Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, BODIES…The Exhibition, Bodies Revealed and Dialog in the Dark. More information about Premier Exhibitions, Inc. is available at www.prxi.com.

Legacy

Legacy is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the national public health organization helps Americans live longer, healthier lives. Legacy develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation's programs include truth®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as having contributed to significant declines in youth smoking; EX®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; and research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit www.legacyforhealth.org.

EX®

EX® is a collaborative public health campaign presented by the National Alliance for Tobacco Cessation, a partnership of the nation's leading public health organizations and states. The campaign helps smokers prepare to quit and guides them to useful resources that foster successful quit attempts including the EX plan, a free personalized quit plan available on the campaign's  website www.BecomeAnEX.org. EX is the culmination of several years of research and testing, combining an understanding of the power of nicotine addiction with messages that resonate with and motivate smokers toward behavior change. The EX approach is peer to peer and focuses on "re-learning life without cigarettes" by encouraging smokers to think differently about the process of quitting. The campaign, which began airing nationwide in March 2008, includes television, radio, online and out-of-home advertising. The EX  website helps smokers create their own individual plan to quit and connects them to a virtual community of other smokers where they can share stories and strategies about quitting. Founding members of the NATC include numerous states and the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the National Cancer Institute, the American Legacy Foundation, C-Change, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and clinical partner, the Mayo Clinic.

SOURCE Legacy