KICK BUTTS DAY Kids' goal is to curtail tobacco's bad effects

One teacher said each cigarette butt represents seven minutes off a smoker's life.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- Pupils are joining forces to persuade the board of education to make all the school district's property smoke free.
About 100 middle and high school pupils picked up cigarette butts on school grounds Wednesday as part of the ninth annual national Kick Butts Day. They will present the butts to the school board at 7 p.m. Monday.
Darren Miller, coordinator of safe and drug-free schools, said the goal is not only for the school board to make the school grounds smoke free -- particularly the outdoor athletic areas -- but also that the community, and the county, would follow the school's example.
Miller said smoking is prohibited in bleachers but not in other outdoor athletic areas.
"Each cigarette butt represents seven minutes off of someone's life," Miller said. "The older generation didn't have the knowledge we do now about what smoking does to you."
Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Smoke-Free Kids, said kids against tobacco had two powerful messages on Kick Butts Day: They want the tobacco industry to stop targeting them with advertising, and they want elected leaders to do more to protect them from tobacco's negative effects.
"On Kick Butts Day, kids stand up against the tobacco companies, and it's important that elected officials stand with them by supporting proven tobacco prevention measures," Myers said.
"States can prevent kids from smoking and protect everyone from the toxic substances in secondhand smoke by properly funding tobacco prevention programs, increasing tobacco taxes and enacting strong smoke-free workplace policies.
"We know these solutions reduce smoking, save lives and save money by reducing smoking-caused health-care costs," he said.
Other concerns
Myers added that the tobacco industry is spending record amounts of money in marketing, and much of the marketing occurs in venues such as magazines and convenience stores that are effective at influencing kids to smoke.
"In one of the most alarming new developments, tobacco companies are introducing new versions of cigarettes with candylike flavors," Myers said.
"Flavored cigarettes are clearly designed to appeal to nonsmokers, and almost all new smokers are adolescents," he added.
According to the Campaign for Smoke-Free Kids, more than 1,500 events were planned Wednesday in all 50 states in the fight against tobacco use.
Nationally, tobacco use kills more than 400,000 people and costs the nation more than $75 billion in health-care costs each year, Myers said.