Thursday is the day the American Cancer Society is calling on smokers throughout Ohio to go smoke-free for the day and to consider giving up for good.

A national survey after the 2003 smokeout found more than 8.3 million of the estimated 46.2 million smokers nationwide (18 percent) took part in the annual event, with nearly 2.3 million (5 percent) giving up completely for the day. If those results are matched this year, about 540,000 Ohioans could be expected to smoke less or not at all that day.

"It is our hope that all Ohio smokers will take advantage of the Great American Smokeout as the excuse they are looking for to become a nonsmoker once and for

all," said Maxine Lewis, Cardiovascular Health Coordinator for the Lawrence County Health Department.