now i'd like to turn over the podium to surgeon general regina benson. regina. >> good afternoon. and a very special thank you to secretary sebelius in her exceptional leadership in this critical issue and a public health issue. she really regrets to have to leave for another commitment because she's really been very involved in this initiative from the beginning. being here today is personal to me. as many of you, it's also personal to you. as i mentioned took this position, my mother died of lung cancer from smoking. when she was young, she started smoking because she was a girl, she wasn't allowed to smoke like her twin brother was and she said as soon as she got to be old enough she would. and she started smoking as a teen-ager and it took her life. i then watched my uncle buddy, her twin brother, a world war ii survivor sit tight to an oxygen tank, struggling for each breath because of emphysema until not long ago his lungs gave out. i don't want others suffer dues dew to the use of tobacco use. over the two year i've had the privilege of releasing two surgeon general reports