A study showed that the leading preventable cause of death in many states especially in New York is tobacco use, because approximately 25,500 New Yorkers die every year from smoking.

After this horrifying news the New York State Department of Health inaugurated its "Don’t Be Silent about Smoking" anti-smoking campaign, in order to make quitting a priority for their patients who smoke. The "Don’t Be Silent about Smoking" campaign was created by Better World Advertising in collaboration with the state Health Department Tobacco Control Program and its 19 cessation centers across the state.

This is a special campaign because while most anti-smoking efforts target smokers, this campaign speaks directly to doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.

State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, said: "This campaign represents a tremendous opportunity for doctors to intervene and give patients the help they need to quit successfully."

Last year many smokers from New York tried to quit without any treatment or drugs and, as a result, the majority relapsed to smoking again.

Richard F. Daines added: "We want to challenge clinicians across the state to take time at every office visit to talk to their patients who smoke."

Studies showed that for increasing the number of nonsmoking patients is enough only to talk to them about smoking and to offer assistance with quitting.

"Doctors spend a lot of time treating smoking-related health problems. If we did a better job at helping our patients who want to quit, we could save thousands of lives and alleviate a great deal of suffering," Commissioner Daines said.

Dr. Oz, who is also the director of the Cardiovascular Institute at New York Presbyterian Hospital, admitted: "Sometimes I feel like a broken record when I bring up the issue of smoking with my patients. But I think it’s important for them to know that when they are ready to quit, I can help them."

In order to stop smoking among people more rapidly the "Don’t Be Silent about Smoking" campaign will be featured in medical journals such as The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), on medical web sites, in major newspapers and in other publications throughout the state.

Dr. Robert Goldberg, D.O., president of MSSNY, said: "The Medical Society of the State of New York, working with the Department of Health, has stepped forward to provide education to physicians regarding the use of the 5 A’s ("ask, advise, assess, assist, and arrange for follow-up") to approach their patients and encourage them to quit smoking. The program has been quite successful. Now it is time for the payer community to move forward as well to provide coverage for patients to enable physicians to continue and to expand smoking cessation counseling in their practices."

The "Don’t Be Silent about Smoking" campaign suggests that helping patients defeat chronic tobacco dependence one of the most cost effective interventions is clinicians. No one ever believed that doctors can help their patients quit by discussing smoking. But this campaign has demonstrated that even doctors can improve their patients’ health.