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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Anti-Smoking Poster Boy Still Lights Up

'I'm afraid to quit' despite amputation, heart attacks, stroke

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(Newser) – New Yorkers have grown to know Skip Legault's face well from anti-smoking ads in the subway and on TV over the past few weeks. A smoker since he was eight, Legault has lost a leg to blood clots, suffered two heart attacks in his twenties, and had a debilitating stroke. Worst of all, ABC reports, he can't quit—a detail not made clear in the ad campaign.

"I'm afraid to quit," Legault said, adding, "I don't feel like a hypocrite, because I'm not telling people what to do. I'm not telling them not to smoke. I'm just showing them what happens." Apparently Legault's pathos is what makes the ads compelling: "He's an extreme example of what smoking can do to somebody," said a New York Health Department spokeswoman.

This image provided by Britain's Department of Health showing a healthy lung, left and a diseased lung, right, is one of the graphic pictures to be place on packs of cigarettes to discourage smokers. Words failed to stamp out smoking, so Britain will require graphic pictures of diseased organs on...
This image provided by Britain's Department of Health showing a healthy lung, left and a diseased lung, right, is one of the graphic pictures to be place on packs of cigarettes to discourage smokers....   (Associated Press)
The Food and Drug Administration should regulate tobacco and develop a plan to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes, the Institute of Medicine urged Thursday. (AP Graphic)
The Food and Drug Administration should regulate tobacco and develop a plan to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes, the Institute of Medicine urged Thursday. (AP Graphic)   (Associated Press)
This photo provided by the New York State Department of Health on Friday, Jan. 11, 2008, shows an ad for the state's anti-smoking campaign featuring Skip Legault, a lifetime smoker who has suffered an amputated leg, two heart attacks and a stroke. Legault, who once smoked three packs a day...
This photo provided by the New York State Department of Health on Friday, Jan. 11, 2008, shows an ad for the state's anti-smoking campaign featuring Skip Legault, a lifetime smoker who has suffered an...   (Associated Press)
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