6 Facts about Kids and Smoking
The Surgeon General reports six major conclusion about kids and smoking:
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Most people start using tobacco before they finish high school. This means that if you stay smoke-free in school, you will probably never smoke.
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Most teens who smoke are addicted to nicotine. They want to quit smoking, but they can't . When they try to quit, they experience nasty withdrawal symptoms -- just like adults do.
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Tobacco is often the first drug used by kids who use alcohol and illegal drugs like marijuana.
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Kids who start smoking are more likely to get lower grades in school. They tend to hang out with other kids who smoke. They may have a low self-image, and they don't know how to say no to tobacco.
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Cigarette advertisements are designed to make people think that smoking is cool and that everybody does it. These misleading ads appear to increase kids' risk of smoking.
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Finally, here's some good news! People working in their communities -- kids who warn each other about the dangers of smoking, for example, and programs that make it harder for stores to sell cigarettes to kids -- are helping to keep kids away from tobacco.
The Real Deal about Tobacco
The Surgeon General says that 3,000 kids start smoking every day. They must not know the facts about tobacco — if they did, they'd stay miles away from the stuff! So let's cut through the smoke and get to the Real Deal about tobacco.
"Most kids my age smoke...don't they?"
- The Real Deal - It might look that way, because tobacco companies pay lots of money to fill magazines and billboards with pictures of people smoking. But according to the Surgeon General, only 13 percent of (or 13 out of 100) adolescents have smoked in the last 30 days. And only 8 percent are "frequent" smokers. That means most kids -- 87 percent, to be exact — are smart enough not to smoke.
"We don't need to worry — smoking won't affect our health until we're a lot older...right?"
- The Real Deal - You already know that smoking can cause things like cancer and heart disease, but the report also lists symptoms that start to develop as soon as you smoke your first cigarette -- no matter how young you are. These include shortness of breath, coughing, nausea, dizziness, and "phlegm production." Pretty gross, huh?
"But if you only smoke a little bit, that can't hurt...can it?"
- The Real Deal - According to the Surgeon General, symptoms like wheezing and coughing have been found in kids who smoke just one cigarette a week.
"Well, at least tobacco use doesn't lead to other drug use...does it?"
- The Real Deal- It doesn't always, but it certainly can. Many times tobacco is the first drug used by kids who use alcohol and illegal drugs. The SGR says that, compared with nonsmokers, kids who smoke are 3 times more likely to use alcohol. They're 8 times more likely to smoke marijuana, and 22 times more likely to use cocaine. Scary, huh?
"Kids who smoke think they're cool...are they?"
- The Real Deal - Only if by "cool" you mean kids who probably aren't doing very well in school. The SGR found that students with the highest grades are less likely to smoke than those with the lowest grades. The same is true for smokeless tobacco -- daily tobacco use is highest among drop-outs, lowest among college students. Kids who smoke have lower self-images. They look to smoking because they think it will give them a better image -- cooler, maybe, or more attractive, or more popular. And because their self-image is low, they don't have the confidence to say no when someone wants them to use tobacco.
"Well, if smoking is so bad, all you have to do is quit. How hard can that be?"
- The Real Deal - Most teens who smoke want to stop. Nearly half of the high school seniors in the survey said they'd like to quit smoking. But they can't because, according to the SGR, "most young people who smoke daily are addicted to nicotine." In the same survey, about 40 percent said they tried to quit and couldn't.
"So maybe we're better off if we never start smoking."
- The Real Deal - Quitting is not a pretty sight, because nicotine is as addictive as alcohol, heroin, or cocaine. According to the SGR, when people quit, they might experience "frustration, anger, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, restlessness, and decreased heart rate." The Surgeon General found that most smokers start before they finish high school. So if you make it to graduation day without starting to smoke, chances are you never will!
Up in Smoke
The typical smoker spends about $700 a year on cigarettes. Think of what you could do with all that dough:
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Play 2,800 video-arcade games.
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Have the world's greatest slumber party: Take your 40 best friends to the movies, then order 19 pizzas (with everything, of course!) to munch on while reading your 162 new comic books.
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Talk on the phone to your friend in another state for 126 hours and 22 minutes.
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Make a donation to your favorite charity. That way you could really help others!
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Buy 1,400 seedlings to plant three acres of oak, hickory, walnut, or ash trees.
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It's boring, we know, but if you put $700 every year in a bank account earning 5 percent interest, you'd have $25,003.47 after 20 years. With a sum like that you could really have some fun!
Is Smokeless Tobacco Safe
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No Way! - Many people think smokeless tobacco (also known as chewing or spit tobacco, or snuff) is safe. One study quoted in the SGR said only 40 percent of kids thought smokeless tobacco was very harmful. Very wrong! The truth is that smokeless tobacco use is connected with all sorts of problems.
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Bad Health! - Smokeless tobacco can cause bleeding gums and sores of the mouth that never heal. Eventually you might end up with cancer.
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Tough to Quit! - Tobacco is tobacco: it all contains nicotine, and nicotine is addictive!
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Very Disgusting! - It stains your teeth a yellowish-brown color. It gives you bad breath. It can make you dizzy, give you the hiccups, even make you throw up. (Definitely NOT cool!)
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Finally, one more fact to chew on -- according to the SGR, kids who use smokeless tobacco are more likely to start using cigarettes, too. That's a double whammy that no healthy body can survive! So spit it out; say no to smokeless tobacco.
Be an Ad Buster
What is advertising? It's a way for companies to help sell their products (and make money). Unfortunately, tobacco ads don't tell the whole truth. They're a smoke screen designed to cover up one simple fact -- smoking is very, very bad for your health! Even worse, some cigarette companies target their ads to kids. How? They use ads with bright colors and lots of pictures. And they put these ads in magazines that appeal to kids, like Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, and Mademoiselle. The tobacco companies are selling an image to kids. Their ads try to make it look like you'll be independent if you smoke. But the best way to be independent is to think of yourself -- and not let a big company do your thinking for you.
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Reality Check- One of the models who played the Marlboro Man died of lung cancer. The model who played the Winston Man is paralyzed on one side because of smoking -- he can no longer climb mountains like he did in those tough-guy ads. Cigarette ads are often set in clean, wholesome settings, and they never show smoke. They don't give you a clue about how gross a burning cigarette smells!
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Reality Check - According to the SGR, "cigarette ads for women have always promoted slimness." But cigarettes are not healthy. Exercising and eating right are two of the smartest things you can do to stay fit and healthy.
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Reality Check- Cigarette ads have a hidden message: "Smoking helps you make friends and will make you desirable." But do you know anybody who desires someone with bad breath, smelly clothes, and yellow teeth? In one survey, 72 percent of high school seniors considered smoking a "dirty habit" -- and the same number said they'd rather date someone who doesn't smoke.
- Reality Check - The youth market is very important to the big tobacco companies, because young smokers are needed to replace older smokers who quit or die. Kids like humor, and kids like cartoons -- and Camel ads use both. According to the SGR, most kids pick Camel ads as their favorite ads for cigarettes.
- Reality Check - Cigarette ads have been banned from TV and radio since 1971. But, the tobacco companies do sponsor sporting events that are shown on TV. Then they plaster their names all over everything. During one 90-minute car race, the word "Marlboro" appeared on TV 5,933 times! How can they say that's not advertising?
- Reality Check - Six years after Virginia Slims cigarettes for women were introduced, more than twice as many teenage girls were smoking. And tobacco companies say they don't target kids!
Smoke Free from Coast to Coast
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Huntington Park, California - Angie Yocupicio broke the law -- lucky for her she was working with the police department when she did it! Angie was part of a "sting operation" to prove how easily kids can buy cigarettes. She walked into a store and boldly asked for a pack -- or a carton! Even though she was 15 at the time, "I was rarely turned down," she says. "They sold it to me gladly." The health agency that sponsored the sting hopes stores will get the message and obey the law. Today, all 50 states and Washington, D.C., prohibit stores from selling tobacco to kids under 18.
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Santa Fe, New Mexico - It's amazing what kid power -- and a little peanut butter and jelly -- can accomplish! Last year, 350 students packed the New Mexico state capitol to talk to their lawmakers about passing a law that would make it illegal to sell tobacco to kids under 18. They even brought the lawmakers p.b.&j. sandwiches to lunch on! A month later, the law passed.
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Marmath, North Dakota - What can just two kids do? Plenty, it turns out, when the two are Justin Fischer and Eric Sonsalla! The only students in their grade (the whole school has only 32 students), they wanted to make their school smoke-free. Eric, age 11, admits he was "pretty nervous" when they shared this idea with the school board. But the board agreed that smoking stinks -- and now nobody can smoke at Marmath Public School. "It was a really fun experience," Eric says.
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Belvidere, Illinois - Students at the Perry Elementary School think magazines read by kids should not print tobacco ads. So they picked some magazines -- including Sports Illustrated and Hot Rod -- from the school library and wrote letters to the editors, asking them to stop running these ads. When the editors didn't write back, the library canceled the subscriptions.
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Perth Amboy, New Jersey - "Sometimes adults think kids don't know what they're talking about," says George Vega, 17. But George can tell grown-ups a thing or two about tobacco advertising -- and he did! His group, HORA (Hispanics On the Rise Again), took a survey of cigarette billboards in his hometown. They found there were more signs in Hispanic neighborhoods than anyplace else. "They put billboards by churches and schools and in parks where kids play," he complains. HORA is talking to the city council about dumping the signs. "We want to remove tobacco billboards," says George, "and replace them with ones for milk or vegetables -- something healthy and positive for kids."
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Boston Massachusetts- Sean Donahue's presentation in front of the capitol said, "Read my lips -- don't smoke!" With TV and newspaper reporters looking on, Sean Donahue heard his voice ring out across the lawn of the Massachusetts statehouse. More than 100 kids -- waving banners and signs that read "FRESH AIR" and "SMOKING STINKS" -- let out a giant roar. "It was exciting," says Sean, remembering his first anti smoking rally. But Sean did more than just talk. After his rousing speech, he led a parade of wagons to the state capitol. The wagons were filled with petitions asking the Secretary of State to raise the state tobacco tax by 25 cents. (According to the Surgeon General, cigarette taxes save lives because high prices make many people stop smoking.) The hard work gathering those petitions paid off: Massachusetts voters approved the law raising the tax. Sean was asked to speak at the rally because he's a celebrity in Boston -- even though he's only 14! He appears weekly on a WBZ radio show called "Kid Company" and even landed a guest spot on "The Tonight Show." All the attention isn't going to his head, though. He's still a down-to-earth guy who cares about kids. "I'm not just saying this to get publicity -- I'm concerned about what's going on," he says. "Kids have to lay off smoking, because it can really ruin their bodies and their lives."
9 Things You Can Do to Make Your World Smoke Free
- Create a Cool School! - Now it's your turn to become part of the movement against tobacco! Here are 10 ways you can help make your world smoke-free
- Strike, three, smoking's out! - As we've seen, cigarette companies try to link tobacco with athletics. You can show that smoking and sports don't mix by writing a letter to the owners of your local sports teams, asking them to make the stadium free of tobacco ads. Many pro teams are already taking action---like the Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, Seattle Seahawks, Houston Rockets, and Minnesota Vikings. These teams don't allow any tobacco advertising in their stadiums.
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Butt Out! - Write a letter to your favorite restaurant, asking them to go completely smoke-free. (Having a separate nonsmoking section does not eliminate your exposure to secondhand smoke. Just like you can't put chlorine in half of a swimming pool, you can't keep smoke in half of a room.) Tell them that when the air in their restaurant is clean, their food will taste better---and that you'll come back and bring your friends!
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Shop Around! - Try this project: In Lincolnwood, Illinois, students took a survey of local businesses. Then they used the school newspaper to encourage kids to shop at stores that didn't sell cigarettes.
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Make a pledge! - Promise you'll never, ever smoke. In Minnesota, kids called Body Guards get members of their families (and other people in the community) to sign a pledge saying they'll be tobacco-free. Of course the kids sign the pledge too!
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Stick 'em up! - Paint posters to encourage younger kids not to smoke. With your teacher's permission, plaster them all over your classroom, library, or cafeteria. Kids who are too young to buy cigarettes from a store often turn to vending machines. It's illegal, but usually they get away with it. So talk to your town board or city council about banning vending machines in your area. Many towns are already doing it---and in places like Perth Amboy, New Jersey, it's kids who are leading the way.
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Stop the Presses! - Send a letter to your local newspaper---the more people that know about the dangers of smoking, the better. After his mom died of lung cancer, Wiley Seigler of New Mexico wrote the Albuquerque Journal. Surely everyone who read Wiley's sad letter thought twice before lighting up a cigarette.
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Be in the Know about saying no! - If you already smoke, quit! Here are some people who can help you---or a friend---kick the habit. Call for more information---or ask how you can volunteer.
American Lung Association
1-800-586-4872
(1-800-LUNG-USA)
American Heart Association
1-800-242-8721
(1-800-AHA-USA1)
American Cancer Society
1-800-227-2345
(1-800-ACS-2345)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Office on Smoking and Health
1-800-232-1311
(1-800-CDC-1311)
Written by Michael S. Atwood