LEWISTON – Dr. Joel Kase and Kathy Smith, coordinator of health promotion services at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, will speak to Club 50 members on newly-identified health risks to smokers. A free session, “Smoking: New Reasons to Quit and Resources to Help You,” will be offered at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2.

The class will be held in the Club 50 Room at St. Mary’s. Register by calling 777-8823.

A report from the office of the U.S. Surgeon General released in May, indicates, for the first time, that tobacco use causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body. It is widely known that smoking leads to cancer of the lungs and larynx and contributes to heart disease, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. The report finds that smoking is also conclusively linked to leukemia, pneumonia, cataracts and cancers of the cervix, pancreas, kidneys and stomach.

“We’ve known for a long time that tobacco use is bad for you. This report sheds new light, however, on the extent of damage that smoking can do to the body,” said Elaine DuMais, Club 50’s director. “An estimated 440,000 Americans die each year due to smoking-related illnesses.”

November is Great American Smokeout Month.