Tobacco use: A youth ‘bully’ worth fighting
by Nora Rhoades, Family and Youth Development AgentEach day more than 3,200 youth under the age of 18 become daily smokers. Without intervention they’ll join the 9 out of every 10 adult smokers who picked up their first cigarette by the age of 18. Peer pressure and social rewards often get blamed for encouraging the first cigarette, but contrary to popular belief there are more teens who don’t smoke than those that do.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s new tobacco education campaign is focused on spreading the message to more than 10 million youth in the age range of 12-17 who are open to trying their first cigarette and who have started experimenting. The Real Cost campaign spreads the anti-tobacco message through a reality check about the financial and health costs associated with tobacco use such as tooth decay, premature aging, and stunted growth (and those are just the beginning of negative health effects). After all, tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States, causing more than 480,000 deaths each year. Financially, tobacco use has an annual impact of approximately $289 billion on healthcare systems, and that doesn’t consider the fees paid to get a ‘fix’ in your hand. Nicotine is an addictive drug, a ‘bully’ that can manipulate and control lives quickly. The Real Cost is focused on youth with hopes of shattering myths that tobacco-use is a popular trend.
Join the 9 out of 10 high school students who choose not to smoke, and fight to take the ‘cool’ out of tobacco use. Contact your local extension office to gain insight and find resources that can help you communicate with important people in your life about tough issues…like tobacco use.
Sources:
The Real Cost campaign, by the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, <therealcost.gov>
FDA launches its first national public education campaign to prevent, reduce youth tobacco use FDA News release, February 4, 2014 http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm384049.htm
The Real Cost Commercials http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5I2msbqpOs&list=PLey4Qe-UxcxaijSaAZA5VGjvaadp0XFL7
photo credit: therealcost.gov
