Prevention
"They Put WHAT in a Cigarette?!" We are very excited about the theme that we have chosen for this year's competition. We find it very interesting that nowhere on a pack of cigarettes can you find a list of ingredients - not a single one of the over 4000 chemicals contained in a puff of smoke are listed on a cigarette package. That's where YOU come in. We want you to help us expose the truth. This year 16 teams from four area high schools - Black River Public School, Careerline Tech Center, Grand Haven High School and West Ottawa High School - created a 30 sec. Public Service Announcment (PSA) around this theme and were eligible to win up to $2000 for the high school's media and technology program and up to $100 for each team. Contact us for more information.
Judges view a commercial from a West Ottawa High team. |
The AWARDS CEREMONY will take place on Friday May 9, 2008 at the Holland 7 Movie Theater, 500 S. Waverly Rd., Holland, MI 49423 between 11:00 and Noon. Check back soon to see the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners!!
What is Secondhand Smoke?
Secondhand smoke (SHS), also known as Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), is a combination of the smoke from a burning cigarette, cigar or pipe and the smoke exhaled from a smoker’s lungs. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over 4,000 different chemicals are contained in tobacco smoke, and more than 50 of them are recognized as known or probable cancer causing agents.
Why Should Parents be Concerned about Secondhand Smoke?
- Children who breathe SHS are more likely to experience pneumonia, bronchitis, and decreasing lung function
- Children who breathe SHS are more likely to suffer from ear infections. Ear infections are the most common cause of children’s hearing loss.
- SHS may cause children to develop asthma.
- Children who breathe SHS can have more frequent and more severe asthma attacks.
- Infants who breathe SHS are at a higher risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the main cause of death in babies under 1 year of age.
- An unborn baby’s exposure to SHS can result in low birth weight, SIDS and other adverse health effects.
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What Can Be Done to Protect Children?
- If you smoke, make a decision to quit. Click here to find out how.
- Choose to protect your children by making your home smoke-free. Take the Environmental Protections Agency’s Smoke-Free Home Pledge. Click here.
- Choose not to smoke around children.
- Choose to make your car smoke-free.
- Make sure your day care facilities are smoke-free.
- Choose to eat at smoke-free restaurants.
Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined - and thousands more die from other tobacco-related causes such as fires and smokeless tobacco use. Each day in the United States, approximately 4,000 young people between the ages of 12 and 17 initiate cigarette smoking and an estimated 1,140 young people become daily cigarette smokers. Over 90% of adult smokers started smoking before age 18. 2005 Ottawa County data indicates that our youth are part of this trend.
- Overall, 18.7% of students smoked cigarettes on one or more days in the month prior to the survey. 26.5% indicated that they had tried a cigarette at least once.
- Overall, 6.2% of students indicated that they smoked cigarettes on 20 or more of the past 30 days.
- Approximately 40% of students indicated that they had smoked a whole cigarette for the first time before age 13 years.
- Overall, 31.7% of students reported that they don’t think it is wrong for someone their age to smoke cigarettes.
- More than half of the students 64% reported that it was sort of easy or very easy to access cigarettes.
- Approximately 8% of students indicated that they ever used smokeless tobacco.
- Approximately 14% of students indicated that they smoked cigar, cigarillos or little cigar on one or more of the past 30 days.
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The younger people start smoking cigarettes, the more likely they are to become strongly addicted to nicotine. Teens who smoke are three times more likely than nonsmokers to use alcohol, eight times more likely to use marijuana, and 22 times more likely to use cocaine. Smoking may also be a marker for underlying mental health problems such as depression and anxiety in adolescents.
| Smoke-Free Ottawa partners with 3 area counties to combat retailer sales of tobacco to youth under 18. Nationally, roughly half of all youth smokers buy their cigarettes whether directly from retailers or vending machines or by giving money to others to buy for them. Another third typically get their cigarettes from others for free, and a smaller but significant percentage of kids obtain their cigarettes by stealing. The No Cigs For Our Kids Campaign collaborates with area law enforcement agencies to conduct undercover youth tobacco compliance checks with area retailers. Federal standards recommend a rate of less than 20% noncompliance with the Youth Tobacco Act which prohibits the sale of tobacco to youth under age 18. The possession and use of tobacco by minors is also prohibited. Area retailers are randomly selected for quarterly law enforcement compliance checks. Clerks who sell to the decoy minor are ticketed and have a misdemeanor offense on their record. Ottawa county results are improving, but are still above national standards:
Date
Fall 2004
Spring 2005
Summer 2005
Fall 2005
Winter 2006
Summer 2006
Fall 2006
Winter 2006
Spring 2007
Summer 2007
Fall 2007
Winter 2007
Spring 2008 |
Illegal Sales Rate
40%
37%
37%
32%
24%
15%
26%
32%
23%
20%
24%
31%
24% |
*Federal standards are no more than 20% |
How You Can Help:
- Say “thank you” to clerks who check ID’s when selling cigarettes (and alcohol). If there is a store manager nearby then thank them too. Michigan law imposes no penalty on the store or owner - only on the clerk and the youth buyer.
- Ask stores to put all tobacco products behind the counter where kids can’t steal them. Tobacco distributors may be paying the store to put tobacco where it can be stolen. It is very addictive, so letting kids steal
- Report to the Police or contact us with any stores who sell single cigarettes. Kids who can’t afford a pack often start with single cigarettes. A clerk can be fined up to $500 for selling these “loosies”
- Don’t give cigarettes to kids, don’t buy for them, and don’t let them steal cigarettes from you or other possible smokers in your home. Remember, ninety percent of adult smokers started before they were 18 years old.
The following Holland stores have received multiple law enforcement tobacco compliance checks and have never sold!!
| “No Cigs for Our Kids” Holland Honor Roll
East Town Quality Car Wash
D & W Food Centers
DJ’s One Stop
Golden 8 Ball
Mobil Oasis Mart
Wal-Mart
Washington Square Minit Mart
BP Gas - E. Lakewood
Wesco
The Store |
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Resources:
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