Air It Out Is A Tobacco Intervention Program

One of my first memories in the United States was taking a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) class. I was in sixth grade and a top student, as talking about drugs and alcohol and the way they affect us was fascinating to me. This is why, the following year, I volunteered to become a peer educator in Teens Against Tobacco Use (T.A.T.U). For a couple of years, I gave presentations to young students which included facts, demonstrations, and games, to spread the knowledge that tobacco is harmful and that staying away from smoking prolongs life expectancy and increases the quality of life. It should come as no surprise, then, that I consider myself a big proponent of staying tobacco-free and encouraging others to quit smoking as a great way to promote health. I remember watching my mom and sister as they took part in their nightly ritual of smoking a few cigarettes to unwind. “Did you know that a main component of cigarettes is used as rocket fuel?” I would ask them, as I opened the window and they stared back at me blankly. “We know, we know” was the answer every time. I knew that convincing them to quit was no easy task, but I was committed. Day after day, I proudly stated a new fact about the evils of smoking. Finally one day, they quit. At first, they attributed it to the cost. Since we had just immigrated to the United States, the cost of cigarettes was simply not something they could afford. I didn’t believe it. I proudly

Did you know that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that about 15% of adults in the U.S. use some variation of tobacco? Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, causing more than 480,000 deaths every year, which is approximately 1 of every 5 deaths.1 Award-winning youth tobacco prevention campaign launched by the Food and Drug Administration, The Real Cost, in their television advertisement, “Little Lungs in a Great Big World: Birthday”, describes the effect of tobacco on one's lungs through the use of satire, animation, and facts. The Real Cost’s purpose is to prevent youth from trying tobacco and to reduce tobacco use among youth already experimenting with tobacco. They use a satirical tone in order to start a conversation among youth about tobacco use and to capture their audience's attention to educate American youth on the health consequences of using tobacco.

As Meghan considers how to target 18- to 24-year old young women with an anti-smoking campaign, she should consider several things, including where her target audience will get the most exposure to the campaign, what the health risks are of smoking, specifically for women and how the tobacco companies target women in the age. She could also look at why people in that age bracket smoke. Is it because they are in a stressful time in their life? Is it because there is peer pressure? Is it because people older than them smoke and have given them a bad example. I think messages that emphasized how smoking is unattractive and unappealing because that age group often cares about physical appearance and what others think about them. A good spokesperson

Dr. David L. Katz, A clinical professor of public health, and director of the prevention research center at Yale University School of Medicine expresses his opinion on public smoking in the following passage.

Many smokers, like Sload, take their first puffs in college. Other students experiment with cigarettes in high school but start smoking heavily in college. Everyone I surveyed and interviewed is aware that smoking was responsible for the deaths of many people every year. They know it increased the risk of heart attack and stroke and adversely affects breathing and the lungs. And like smokers of any age, many college students are actively trying to quit. Mandie Sload knows that for or five cigarettes a day were four or five too many. She plans to quit someday. She understands that if she quits her breath will smell better;

Winning the war against cigarettes. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2015, from American Cancer Society: http:www.cancer.org

A hand extends from outside the scene and holding a lit lighter out to her. As the camera pans out a teenage boy is holding out the lighter and she looks up at him with a look of utter shock, confusion, and what could be described as shame (see fig. 1). The ad ends with “Children of smokers are almost twice as likely to become smokers” (ClearWay Minnesota). It then returns to the mother and son as the two sits in silence on the front step. In this way, Clearway presents to us this narration of a family struggling with tobacco use.

Parents who vape can take precautions, by keeping their electronic cigarettes and e-juice somewhere locked away and out of reach as "Doctors say that depending on the concentration of the e-liquid used, ingesting just half a teaspoon could be enough to kill a child" (Top 5 Extraordinary E-Cigarette Facts 3:23-3:29). Teenagers should also take precautions if they choose to use electronic cigarettes, as they can also affect their bodies differently than adults. Bill Stanczykiewicz, who is both the CEO and president of the Youth Institute in Indiana, said that an electronic cigarette, "has very harmful effects as the teenage brain is still developing" and that "Nicotine can be addictive, one addictive behavior can lead to other addictive behaviors" (Proposed E-Cigarette Regulations Creating Controversy). To enforce abstinence from electronic cigarettes, however, can be very ineffective, as they are becoming glamorized in the media and are being used by celebrities who teens may idolize. There are various celebrities who smoked in the past and now vape instead, such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Dennis Quaid, and Katherine Heigl (Vaping and Health

I believe this story about her and her family helps what I’m trying to inform my audience about the danger of second-hand smoking. Background Information: Cigarette smoke is well understood as a cause of lung cancer and is linked to many other types of cancer in children and adults. Many people are still exposed to secondhand smoke, particularly children who live with parents who smoke even though they try to be careful where they light up. Every year in the U.S., passive smoking causes about 34,000 deaths from heart disease and 7,300 deaths from lung cancer.

Smoking is something that can really affect you internally and externally. Many people know this for a fact yet they can’t seem to quit smoking. This is because of the nicotine in the cigarette itself. Nicotine is absorbed into your bloodstream as you smoke, then it travels to your brain. It causes your brain to release adrenaline, which is a chemical in your brain that gives you pleasure. The Real Cost’s anti-smoking PSA “Straw City” is effective because it creates a clear cause and effect, a moral that is easily understood, and a good visual that teens, who are the audience, are familiar with.

Most often seniors in high schools can purchase cigarettes because they are 18, so they distribute them to underclassmen or friends. Nearly 21 percent of high schoolers in public schools smoke cigarettes, which would be about 3.13 million students (Preidt). My survey shows that only four percent, or two out of 49 people admit their addiction to cigarettes. The two students admitted that stress is their reasoning for why they began smoking and continue, but only one has support to end their need to smoke. While the student with assistance is continuing to smoke, they are attempting to stop; however, the effects of smoking are obviously severe (lung disease, cancer, bronchitis, etc.) and cannot continue. Cigarettes may be a partial stress reliever although the permanent and long-term effects should be proof enough that this addiction is a necessity to prevent in our high schoolers even if it is four

The Institute of Medicine found that children, who are born between 2000 and 2019, would suffer 249,000 fewer premature deaths and 45,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer, when the legal age to purchase tobacco is increased from 18 to 21 years old (atg.wa.gov 2016). Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S, which causes many chronic health complications such as heart disease, cancer, and lung disease (atg.wa.gov 2016). Raising the legal age to purchase tobacco products to 21 in Washington state will decrease the use later in adult life specifically, ages 15 to 17 who are targeted the most through tobacco companies due to their vulnerability and gives loyalty to a specific tobacco company from the addiction of nicotine. Needham, Massachusetts campaigned to raise the legal age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21 in 2005 and won. Results are already compelling, showing that between 2006 and 2012 Needham’s high school smoking rate dropped more than half among girls and boys (atg.wa.gov 2016). Given that nicotine can be such an addictive drug and be seen to be used as a coping mechanism, specifically ages 15 to 17 through their developing stages of life, needs to encounter harder access to get their hands on tobacco products. According to the Center of Disease Control, one in 13 Americans age 17 or younger alive today are estimated to die prematurely due to the effects of smoking (atg.wa.gov 2016). Raising the legal age to

The tobacco industry kills more people in North America from Monday to Thursday of each week than the terrorists murdered in total on September 11, 2001. That sounds unrealistic, doesn’t it? Well, smoking is an epidemic that affects us all, whether you are a smoker or you aren’t. In order to stop this epidemic, we need to

Attention getter: According to Tobacco-Free Kids, “about 400,000 people die from their own smoking each year, and about 50,000 die from second-hand smoke annually. Smoking kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and

Tobacco; one of the most profitable products in history, an addictive substance, and a deadly killer. Smoking tobacco used to be a thing that was endorsed in American society. Now, with the new medical advances and knowledge, society has seen the side effects of smoking and how fatal it actually is. Teenagers have been one of the largest age groups that have been affected by smoking. After analyzing all possible reasons as to why teenagers would smoke while knowing it can affect their health, three possible reasons stuck out the most. Teenagers smoke despite knowing the health problems that originate from smoking because of peer pressure, an “invincibility” mentality, and seeing a role model or family member smoke.