China has more smokers than the US has in our own population. Which means over 350 million people in China smoke each day. Currently, approximately 1 million people die in China each year due to tobacco related illnesses. However, China's tobacco control programs are limited in resources to educate the public about the harmful side effects of smoking. To make it even harder for the public to understand how health damaging smoking is to their well-being is the monopolization of the tobacco industry by the Chinese government. This rather shows that the government is more interested in making money than the health of their citizens. Also, growing tobacco in China is taking up valuable farm land that can be used to grow other food items for the poor and starving rural population. The following is the cover story done by Ray Suarez about this issue.
After hearing all the hype from my friends, I recently went to see Avatar with high hopes for the 3D experience and futuristic storyline. While the visual effects were entertaining, I was disappointed in the poor example that Sigourney Weaver's character, Dr. Augustine, sets for youth.
Dr. Augustine had the potential to be a role model for young women and teens, but blemishes this image when she smokes a cigarette. Although some of her actions were controversial, Dr. Augustine was portrayed as an independent, strong, and intelligent woman who fought against authority for her values. Instead of empowering young women, her character's choice to smoke contributed to the spread of tobacco related illness and death.
Many people underestimate the influence that smoking in the movies has on youth attitudes towards tobacco. Studies have shown that on-screen smoking is the primary influence on half of all kids who start smoking. This amounts to 390,000 U.S. teens per year that will begin smoking as a result of exposure to tobacco usage in movies. It is concerning to see one of the most profitable youth-rated movies ever produced promote smoking when tobacco is still the number one cause of preventable death in the U.S.
I hope that the money I spent to see Avatar does not contribute to funding new movies containing tobacco industry marketing and causing subsequent public health problems. I encourage Hollywood to consider its influence on youth and envision a healthier future in upcoming films.
For those who are a fan of caffeine and of Starbucks, in the latest news concerning anti-smoking and creating a better environment for California. Starting Monday (June 7, 2010), the mega-giant coffee chain is banning smoking in their outdoors patio area. This is another step towards achieving the goal of having cleaner breathing air in California!
These are some of the pictures of us at the Pacific Rim Festival in Old Sacramento in May. Our youth group came out and helped us gather signatures and surveys. Thanks guys! Kids and families were very keen about our display of a rubber tarred lung and they loved stickers! We gave out all of our anti-tobacco and smoking green dinosaur stickers that day.
Smoking is not only seen in teenagers and adults but now it has escalated to children! A toddler of just 2 years old is addicted to smoking! This toddler is a victim of his environment in which the people around him smoke vigorously. Secondhand smoke not only is dangerous to other people but from the example of this baby, the habit of smoking seems to be spreading just as badly.
This is another editorial written by one of our youths about smoking in movies.
Movie Editorial #3
You see your favorite actor smoking; you think it's cool
don't you? If
you did, then you thought wrong! Smoking may seem cool in the movies but
let me tell you the truth.
Tobacco companies spend more than $11.22 billion in marketing their
products each year. Every teenager that is a non-smoker tends to smoke
after watching their favorite stars smoke in movies. 390,000 kids are
nearly enough to replace every adult smoker killed by tobacco each year.
Smoking in G, PG, or PG-13 rated movies should be put into RATED R
because young people in the US watch an average of three movies a week
which adds up to 15 exposures to smoking a week. Smoking in movies
influences teenagers more than the real life.
Now, you see what I'm trying to point out here? Smoking in movies just
seems cool because you don't see that yellow teeth, bad skin, ugly hair,
or premature wrinkles on their face. But smoking in real life isn't like
how it is in movies. You don't have lights to cover your appearance. You
don't have make-up artists and hair stylists to do your make-up and hair.
If there is a smoking scene in a movie, it would be
rated R so kids are
not badly influenced!
Did you know that you are 16 more times to use tobacco when
the media displays a superstar using tobacco?
In fact, the tobacco companies pay billions of dollars for
film producers to include their advertisements or for actors and actresses to
use tobacco. The tobacco companies’ goals are to recruit new smokers. Their
main targets are the youth because they will be life long customers. By having
tobacco use in the media, it affects our community thinking. Youth believe that
using tobacco is cool, stress relieving, and perfectly normal. However, tobacco
use does the opposite by harming your health, social life, and future. Instead
of relieving stress, tobacco actually weakens your body in fighting or handling
day to day stressors.
Tobacco in the media is a big problem that needs to be
stopped.
Movie Editorial #2
Smoking in the media shows that kids should smoke because
they have seen actors doing it. The kids look up to the actors like role models
and want to be like them. When they see smoking in the movie, it encourages
most kids to smoke.
Marlboro states that they don’t encourage kids to smoke but
in the movie “Superman,” it shows him jumping out of the Marlboro box sign. In
many cartoons and movies, there are clips of characters smoking.
I think the big tobacco companies are lying to us. They
would love to see young smokers because they are lifetime customers. I want
more laws against smoking in youth rated movies. I think this would help bring
down the statistics of young smokers.
These editorials were written by the youths at the local high schools in Sacramento. These are their take as well as anecdotes on the harm of secondhand smoke.
Editorial #1
Have you ever stood on the side walk and smelled something funny? What smell is this, is someone smoking right next to you? It’s SECONDHAND SMOKE!!!!! This happens everywhere. It is what happened to me when I was little.
Secondhand smoke is bad for you. It’s not good for you because the air is not clear. The person next to you is giving you secondhand smoke. How is this bad? Did you know breathing secondhand smoke damages your heart and lungs, which increases the risk of heart disease by 25 to 30 percent?
When I was about 8 years old my dad, grandmas, and grand dad smoked. When I was outside my dad would smoke. Then when I was at my grandparents’ house they would smoke in the house. Smoking was already in my life, the smell didn’t get to me. I liked the smell.
Because of that, I grew up smoking myself, but it changed my life badly. I wanted to play sports, but I couldn’t really breathe. I felt like my stomach was on fire and I couldn’t catch my breath. I thought about not listening to my mom and some people would talk to me about smoking but I didn’t listen because I was hardheaded. It took me a while to get my lungs back. Then I felt like smoking again. I couldn’t stop smoking.
Now I don’t think about smoking cause smoking is not an option when you’re at my age. That is how secondhand smoke got to me. Don’t let it get to you.
Editorial #2
Timmy took his last breath November 18, 2008, two weeks after his birth. Cause of death? Two months premature as a result of secondhand smoke. Over 60 percent of children in the US are exposed to secondhand smoke. It killed me more to see his sad little face than the secondhand smoke his mother and I breathed in daily. His mom never once thought daddy’s cigarette was going to affect her baby but she learned the hard way. Those two weeks of antagonizing pain from slowly watching her child die changed her. She has never been the same; always mad, sad, or drunk. Secondhand smoke ruined her life and it could ruin yours.
True story? Yes. Real pain and real deaths? Yes. I despise those that caused little Timmy and countless other babies their lives. I promise myself not to pick up a cigarette and I hope you don’t either.
Editorial #3 My daughter was a victim of secondhand smoke. She was one years old. Her grandmother smoked around her twenty-four hours a day, everyday. It finally caught up with her because she now has bronchitis as a result of the secondhand smoke.
It hurts me to see her in pain and to know that our family did it to her without even knowing. People need to have more awareness about the parents’ roles in their children’s life when if comes to secondhand smoke. Almost 60 percent of U.S. children are exposed to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke also causes chronic coughing and wheezing in children.
Please be more sensitive to the fragile lungs of children. I don’t want anyone else to be in my situation.
Editorial #4
Secondhand smoke is
very dangerous for many reasons. One of the many reasons is the exposure to infants and children. Infants and children who are exposed to secondhand smoke have a very high risk of getting
pneumonia and bronchitis.
Breathing secondhand smoke while being pregnant can cause a baby to be born prematurely and raise the risk of health problems. If children and infants are exposed to secondhand smoke, they can die because their bodies are
still developing and growing. Sixty percent of children in the US are exposed to secondhand smoke.
Studies show that 45,000 people die of heart disease annually and secondhand smoke plays a huge part of it. Secondhand smoke can be very easily stopped. There should be signs telling smokers to not smoke in public places such as pools and shopping centers. Fines should also be places on smokers who do not follow theses rules.
The American Public Media Marketplace published an article on April 29th about potential new marketing restrictions on cigarettes in Australia:
New legislation in Australia would forbid tobacco companies from using colorful images and logos to sell cigarettes. The bill would be the boldest crackdown on cigarette advertising worldwide. The BBC's Sarah Gerathy reports.
An open pack of Marlboro Lights lays by a lit cigarette in an ash tray. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Stacey Vanek-Smith: What's black and white and covered with health warnings? Cigarettes -- that is, if the Australian government has its way. It's introduced legislation that would ban colorful images and logos from cigarette packs. For Marketplace, the BBC's Sarah Gerathy reports from Sydney.
Sarah Gerathy: Pick up a pack of cigarettes in Australia and you'll be faced with graphic photos of mouth cancer and rotting teeth. What could be more grotesque than that? Well, if you're a tobacco company, maybe a simple, boring white pack.
The plan is to make smoking even less attractive, especially to young people. Professor Simon Chapman is advising the government on how to do it:
Simon Chapman: It removes completely the ability of the tobacco industry to effectively say anything about its brands other than the name of the brand.
The U.S. limits advertising with packs carrying a small warning that smoking may kill you. But Australia's will be the boldest cigarette advertising crackdown by any country. And the companies are already threatening legal action.
Tim Wilson's from the Australian think-tank the Institute of Public Affairs:
Tim Wilson: The tobacco companies may be able to sue the government for the compensation for the lose of their trademarks and may seek compensation of up to $3 billion per annum.
If the Australian government succeeds in court, other countries could follow suit.
In Sydney, I'm the BBC's Sarah Gerathy for Marketplace.
