PROCLAMATION 6957—NOV. 21, 1996 111 STAT. 2821 NOW, THEREFORE. I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 24 through November 30, 1996, as National Family Week. I call upon all Americans to celebrate our Nation's families with appropriate ceremonies and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first. WILLIAM J. CLINTON Proclamation 6957 of November 21, 1996 National Great American Smokeout Day, 1996 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Every day, nearly 3,000 young Americans become regular smokers, falling victim to negative influences and provocative advertisements and putting themselves at risk of diseases caused by nicotine addiction. Nearly 1,000 of these children will die prematurely and be among the more than 400,000 Americans who lose their lives to tobacco-related illnesses each year. Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and premature death in our society. The use of tobacco is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the United States, and we anticipate that, unless smoking rates decline immediately, more than 5 million people under the age of 18 today will die from a smokingrelated disease. For a country so deeply devoted to the protection of our children, such numbers are a national tragedy. Recognizing the urgent need to reverse these devastating statistics, my Administration has announced tough, unprecedented measures to limit children's access to tobacco products and to reduce tobacco's appeal to children. In support of these efforts, I am pleased to join the millions of caring citizens who are observing the "Great American Smokeout," an annual, nationwide effort to help millions of Americans give up tobacco and to raise awareness of nicotine addiction and the deadly risks associated with tobacco use. Twenty years ago the American Cancer Society organized the first nationwide Great American Smokeout. Through the Society's leadership, the event has helped millions of Americans to stop smoking by proving to them that, if they can quit for a day, they can quit for a lifetime. In recent years the focus of the Great American Smokeout has broadened to include efforts to help our young people understand that they should never start smoking in the first place. Since the inception of the Great American Smokeout, the smoking rate of American adults has dropped from 36 percent to 25 percent. Nonetheless, tobacco use continues to take an unacceptable toll. This year, 177,000 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed. Moreover, even as the number of adult smokers has declined, the use of tobacco among children is rising.
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