Television stations statewide will begin airing anti-smoking public service announcements created to provoke reactions.

A lump in your throat and mild nausea are among the possibilities.

Wednesday at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the state Health Department previewed a smoking cessation campaign that includes 30-second television ads scheduled to run during August and September this year and next.

The television campaign is “hard-hitting and may unsettle some viewers,” said Jeffrey Willett, director of the department’s Tobacco Control Program.

“We are not running these ads for shock value, even though they will make people feel uncomfortable,” Willett said. “This is an effective approach that’s been proven to get the attention of smokers and motivate behavior change.”

One ad shows the reaction of a young boy whose mother suddenly vanishes from his side in a busy train station; the intent is encourage parents who smoke to consider the potential impact of their death on their children.

The other begins with a young man lighting up a cigarette and ends with a glob of fat being squeezed out of an aorta of a 32-year-old smoker; its goal is to take the risk of smoking from the abstract to reality.

According to Health Department data compiled between July 2008 and June 2009, 17 percent of state residents 18 and older are smokers.

The percentages are higher for the eight counties of Western New York: Allegany, 25.5; Cattaraugus, 24.4; Chautauqua, 26.0; Erie, 26.7; Genesee, 18.7; Niagara, 27.1; Orleans, 29.9; and Wyoming, 22.3.

Chemung County tops the list at 30.8 percent, while Rockland County is at the bottom with 9.7.

The smoking cessation campaign, supported by a $1.8 million federal stimulus grant, also encourages people to call the 10-year-old Smokers’ Quitline at 866-697-8487, which offers state residents smoking cessation products and services tailored to their schedule and needs.

“One-third of all cancers could be prevented if we just got people off the cigarettes,” said K. Michael Cummings, chairman of the department of health behavior at Roswell Park, who directs operations at the Smokers’ Quitline.

It costs approximately $200 to get a smoker to quit, said Cummings; the cost of treating someone with lung cancer at Roswell Park is around $35,000 a year.

jhabuda@buffnews.comnull