Students Fight Tobacco on "Kick Butts Day"

Students across America will learn about the dangers of tobacco use and take on the tobacco industry on Kick Butts Day, being held on March 21, 2012. Teachers wishing to organize events can find an activity guide full of event ideas at www.kickbuttsday.org.

Organized by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and sponsored by the United Health Foundation, Kick Butts Day is an annual celebration of youth leadership and activism in the fight against tobacco use. On Kick Butts Day, youth participate in more than 1,000 events across the nation, encouraging their peers to stay tobacco-free and educating their communities about the dangers of tobacco and the tobacco industry’s harmful marketing practices.

“On Kick Butts Day, kids are standing up to the tobacco companies, and we look forward to working with teachers across the country to help them reject tobacco,” said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “Working together, we can reach hundreds of thousands of young people and help them stay healthy and tobacco-free.”

Examples of Kick Butts Day events include:

• “They put what in a cigarette?!” in which youth learn about the hundreds of toxic and cancer-causing chemicals in cigarettes and secondhand smoke.
• A pledge or memorial wall in which youth pledge to be tobacco-free, express their views about the tobacco industry and remember loved ones lost because of tobacco.
• Health fairs and rallies at which students educate each other about the dangers of tobacco and speak out against the tobacco industry.
• Video contests in which students compete to make the best anti-tobacco public service announcements.

In addition to informing students about the dangers of tobacco, Kick Butts Day is also an opportunity to educate elected officials about the actions they can take to protect kids from tobacco, such as increasing tobacco taxes, enacting smoke-free air laws and funding tobacco prevention programs.

Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 people and costing $96 billion in health care bills each year.  While the nation has made significant progress in reducing youth smoking, 19.5 percent of high school students still smoke. Every day, another 1,000 kids become regular smokers – one-third of them will die prematurely as a result.

Additional information about tobacco, including state-by-state statistics, can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org.

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