Resources:
National African American Tobacco Prevention Network
www.naatpn.org
American Cancer Society
www.cancer.org
American Lung Association
www.lung.org
H.E.A.R.T. Coalition
www.heartcoalition.com
For a time, DeShanda Smarr lived with an aunt who smoked.
She remembers how the smell permeated the carpet, blinds and even her school clothes. Smarr, who has never smoked, tried to disguise it with perfume but her classmates still noticed.
“It was kind of embarrassing,” said Smarr, an 11th-grader at Carver High School in Atlanta. More importantly, though, she worried about her aunt’s health and that of her cousins, who were exposed to second-hand smoke.
“That’s one of the reasons I never smoked,” said Smarr. “I know what it can do to your health.”
Indeed, experts say cigarette smoking is perhaps the leading preventable cause of disease, disability and death. Tobacco use can lead to a number of health conditions, including several types of cancer, heart disorders and lung disease.
Smarr wants to make sure others her age take heed. She’s a member of H.E.A.R.T. to H.E.L.P (Helping Everyone Live Positively), the youth component of the H.E.A.R.T. (Health, Education, Awareness and Research on Tobacco) Coalition. The organization raises awareness about the consequences of tobacco and alcohol use. She goes out to neighborhood parks, community events and schools to spread the word.
The message is best when it's delivered peer-to-peer, said Denise Smith, tobacco prevention coordinator with the H.E.A.R.T. Coalition.
“They’re in the same situation and under the same pressures,” Smith said. “They can relate to the pressure and provide insight on how to prevent youth initiation of tobacco. It reinforces that message.”
She said younger people are increasing their use of electronic cigarettes, because they think they are less harmful. “We have to constantly educate them about those devices,” she said.
Smarr said the number of teens at her school who smoke is troubling. Traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes, mini-cigars, you name it, they’re smoking it.
“A lot of people think they’re young, so it can’t affect them. But I want them to know what it actually does, whether now or later,” she said.
Although the rate of smoking among adults has declined, most picked up the habit when they were 18 or younger
In Georgia, about 6 percent of middle school students and 17 percent of high school students reported they smoked cigarettes, according to a 2011 survey, the most recent available.
Smarr has some powerful allies.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently launched “The Real Cost” campaign to prevent tobacco use among teens and to reduce the number of people ages 12 to 17 who become regular smokers. The campaign, funded by $115 million in user fees collected from the tobacco industry, will appear in more than 200 markets, including Atlanta, for at least a year. It focuses on the immediate health and changing physical appearance that are consequences of smoking rather than the longer terms ones like cancer and stroke. It also hammers home the word “cost.”
In one television spot, for instance, a young man goes into a store to by a pack of smokes. When he puts a few dollars on the counter, the clerk tells him that’s not enough. The young man then pulls out a pair of pliers, pulls a tooth and places it on the counter.
“What does pack of smokes cost?” the narrator asks. “Your teeth. Smoking can cause serious gum disease that makes you more likely to lose them. What are cigarettes costing you?”
The FDA plans to roll out additional youth campaigns focusing on rural youth, LGBT youth and multi-cultural youth. There are high hopes for the campaign.
“We’ve seen some messages targeted toward adults contribute to reductions with kids,” said Michael P. Eriksen, dean of the Georgia State University School of Public Health. “We think that is due to the fact as fewer adults smoke, fewer kids smoke. But in general, campaigns for adults try to emphasize personal, real life, and graphic depictions of the harm caused by smoking.
“For kids, it’s either to try to stimulate their rebelliousness or anti-tobacco company sentiment, or to focus on health effects that are salient to kids — appearance, wrinkling and performance.”
The school of public health and its partners recently received $19 million over five years from the FDA and the National Institutes of Health to establish one of 14 Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science.
Kenneth Ray, program manager for the Georgia Tobacco Use Prevention Program for the Georgia Department of Public Health, calls tobacco use and smoking a major health problem in Georgia. The related illness and diseases “are crippling our population.”
So, given all the information about the dangers, why do young people still puff away?
Some cite stress or trying to be cool or popular. Others say it goes deeper.
"The challenge is still predatory marketing (by tobacco companies)," said Delmonte Jefferson, executive director of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, which addresses tobacco-related and health disparities among African-Americans. "You might not even notice, but in some places these products are at eye level with their height to get their attention. They even have grape-flavored cigarillos. That's our challenge."
Ray thinks the problem also comes from television, movies and music that he says glorifies tobacco use.
“Some of their heroes will have a cigar in their mouths or be in environments where smoking is allowed, such as night clubs,” he said. “Young people will view smoking as appropriate. It means success is around the corner. It’s difficult to counter that message,” particularly with the limited dollars states have.
Ray said that the department is working with the state’s school districts to adopt a tobacco-free school policy that would not allow any tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, on any school property, in school-owned or leased vehicles, athletic fields and parking lots or at school-sponsored or related events on campus or off campus.
Some also favor an increase in the sales tax on cigarettes.
“You can price young people out of the market of using tobacco products,” he said. “They will use their disposable income on other things, like music or clothes. They will make a choice.”
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