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United Health Foundation Partners With Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to Help Cut Youth Smoking by 25 Percent 

United Health Foundation is partnering with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to help cut the youth smoking rate 25 percent by 2015.

The partnership includes a three-year, $2.8 million grant to fund the campaign's "For Youth By Youth" program, which will support Kick Butts Day and other initiatives to reduce youth tobacco use and educate and empower youth as leaders in the fight against tobacco.

"It is staggering that every day 1,000 kids become regular smokers, starting on a path to a lifetime of health issues including increased risks of heart disease and cancer," said Kate Rubin, president of United Health Foundation. "We need to do all we can to reduce youth smoking, and United Health Foundation is grateful for the opportunity to work with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids on the 'For Youth By Youth' initiative."

"We are excited to begin this new partnership with United Health Foundation to protect America's kids from the dangers of tobacco," said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "This is a great opportunity to protect our nation's youth by building on the success of Kick Butts Day and empowering youth leaders across the country. Working together, we will be able to reach hundreds of thousands of young people over the next three years and help them stay healthy and tobacco-free."

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4-H teen leaders challenging everyone to 'Kick Butts' today  

KEYSER - Mineral County 4-H teen leaders are challenging adults and teens who smoke to “Kick Butts” for their own health and for their families.

Today is national Kick Butts Day (KBD). Youth throughout Mineral County will raise awareness about the impact of tobacco on health.

KBD is the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids’ annual celebration of youth advocacy, leadership and activism. 4-H teen leaders will be hosting displays and posters throughout the county to demonstrate health effects of tobacco.

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body; causing many diseases and reducing the health of smokers in general. The adverse health effects from cigarette smoking account for an estimated 443,000 deaths, or nearly 1 of every 5 deaths, each year in the United States.

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Adults Underestimate Tobacco Advertising in Local Stores, But Show Concern That Ads Influence Kids to Smoke 

An informal survey conducted at this year’s Greatest Heart Run Walk on March 4 and 5, in Utica finds that adults significantly underestimate the extent of tobacco product advertising in stores that sell cigarettes, while strongly believing that such advertising influences children to smoke.

As part of the annual Kick Butts Day, the survey was conducted by BRiDGES to Prevent Tobacco, to see if local consumers are aware of the targeted marketing and it’s impressions on youth. The survey found:

* 46 percent of people surveyed said that when they visit a convenience store, supermarket or gas station, they observe 10 or fewer cigarette ads. In fact, a statewide study conducted for the state Department of Health in 2007 found an average of 18 ads per store.

* 90 percent of people surveyed believed tobacco advertising influences children ‘a lot.’ Only 3 percent thought tobacco advertising had little or no effect on children.

Research has found that weekly or more frequent exposure to retail tobacco marketing is associated with a 50-percent increase in the odds that adolescents will ever smoke.

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“Kick Butts” Dodgeball Tournament a Success 

For the 4th consecutive year, Clean Air St. Joseph faction Smokebusters held their annual “Kick Butts Day” dodgeball tournament at Missouri Western’s Looney Complex last Wednesday.

The mission of the dodgeball tournament was to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking tobacco. More than 220 middle and high school students participated in the tournament.

Students really getting into dodgeball as Clean Air St. Joseph tries to help kids avoid smoking. Jamie Baker, community policy specialist, helped organize and promote the event. Baker said the organization put out flyers, sent registration forms to schools, used Facebook and took out ads on the radio to publicize the tournament.

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High school students take anti-smoking message to D.C.  

Looking to encourage others to “kick butt,” students from Ocean City High School’s Student Coalition Against Tobacco, SCAT, kicked butt on the national mall in Washington.

With a large banner depicting the Human Toll of Tobacco, students hosted a “Tobacco-Free Youth Rally.”

On March 18, the OCHS contingency, led by sponsor Tom Gahr, took center stage in the fight against tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. The students joined thousands of young people in events across the nation for the 16th annual Kick Butts Day.

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Students' anti-smoking videos judged 

NORWALK -- Final judging of the the 10th annual "Kick Some Butts" anti-tobacco commercial contest was March 23 in the Fisher-Titus Learning Center at Norwalk High School sponsored by the Tobacco Education Awareness Management Committee (TEAM).

This year's date was chosen to coincide with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Kick Butts Day, a national day of activism that empowers youths to speak up and take action against tobacco use.

This year's local finalists and their videos were Clyde High School, "The Smoke," and EHOVE Career Center, "Thank You Big Tobacco."

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Photos: Anti-tobacco "Kick Butts Day" rally in Boston  

One hundred Boston youth joined 150 of their peers from across Massachusetts last Wednesday for the "2011 Kick Butts Day." The annual event is held by The 84 Movement to raise awareness of the tobacco industry's "underhanded tactics to target youth," organizers said.

(Courtesy: The 84 Movement)

Before marching to the State House, youths from across Massachusetts began their day with a training session to share how they were working in their communities to limit the impact of tobacco.

(Courtesy: The 84 Movement)

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Kick Butts event helps students fight tobacco use  

Members of the Lawrence Boys & Girls Club were among 250 youngsters who participated in the 2011 Kick Butts Day March 23 at the Massachusetts State House.

In addition to curbing youth tobacco use, this year's Kick Butts Day activities focused on the tactics used by the tobacco industry to target young people. The event also celebrated the work being done across Massachusetts to limit youth access to tobacco products. During the event, young people highlighted the increasing number of cheap, youth-friendly "other tobacco products," such as candy flavored dissolvable tobacco.

Teenagers from Lawrence are part of The 84 Movement, managed by Health Resources in Action and funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program. Kick Butts Day is a national program organized by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

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Springfield student fights Big Tobacco 

A Springfield High School student is leading nearly 300 youth from across the state to join lawmakers and health advocates to "kick some butt."

"Kick Butts Day" is a national celebration to empower youth " a chance to speak out and say no to Big Tobacco.

Tiffany Farrell is a senior at Springfield High School of Commerce and a secondhand smoke survivor. About three years ago, she was hospitalized after secondhand smoke triggered a severe asthma attack that developed into carbon dioxide poisoning and exacerbated an existing case of walking pneumonia.

"It was just one of the worst experiences of my life," said Tiffany. "I don"t smoke, I don"t participate in it and I"m still being affected so negatively."

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LETTER: Youth urge protection from secondhand smoke 

We are a group of 10- to 16-year-olds from Greater New Hope Church in Indianapolis. We belong to the VOICE movement, which is Indiana's youth-led movement against Big Tobacco targeting their products to us.

Today is Kick Butts Day, a national day of activism that empowers youth to take action against Big Tobacco. Big Tobacco doesn't want us to think secondhand smoke is a problem. We've been working with our adult allies and we know secondhand smoke is a big problem.

We are writing to show our support for a smoke-free air law that protects everyone, such as the first version of House Bill 1018. Now, the bill won't protect people in nursing homes, membership clubs, casinos, bars and clubs. We know that these establishments are not for us right now, but one day we will work in and go to these places.

As a group, we have older siblings, parents, grandparents and loved ones who will not be protected from other people's smoke if HB 1018 passes the way it is written. We want the Indiana Senate to fix the bill so that everyone is protected.

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'Sweet Deception' marks Kick Butts Day  

Tobacco Free Alachua is hosting "Sweet Deception," an art and research showcase, Wednesday night as part of Kick Butts Day 2011.

As part of a research collaboration with the Alachua County Health Department and the University of Florida, local high school students used photos of candy-flavored tobacco products to assess county residents' reaction to the marketing of these products to young people.

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CCU participates in Kick Butts Day  

Wednesday, March 23 is national Kick Butts day and groups all over the country are holding anti-tobacco events. It's a day of activism that encourages youth to take action against tobacco use.

Coastal Carolina University senior, Andrea Jager, is the spearhead of an effort at her school.

As a health science major, she knows the negative health effects that come with smoking. But she sees friends and classmates lighting up all the time.

"Everyone knows smoking is bad for you, but they might not know why or they might not know exactly how it affects them," said Jager.

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Youths take tobacco-free stance  

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As 13-year-old Thadeus Kirkland lugged around a bucket filling up with discarded cigarettes, he got a whiff of their stench.

"It smelled like old coffee that had sat out for a long time, said Kirkland, a seventh-grader at Plaza Park Middle School.

He was one of 10 Evansville students who picked up cigarette butts around the Downtown YMCA Thursday afternoon as part of the YMCA's annual Youth Summit. Although the group went around only the block, Kirkland estimated that alone he picked up "more than 50" cigarettes that had been tossed into the street or onto the sidewalk.

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If pigs could smoke: Demonstration at Noble High may change minds of more than a few kids  

NORTH BERWICK, Maine -- Noble High School administrators pumped the consequences of tobacco use into the minds of roughly 1,500 students Tuesday, allowing kids to get up close and personal with an inflatable, smoke-stricken pig lung as a part of Kick Butts Day.

Kick Butts Day is an national initiative to raise awareness about tobacco use, and as part of Noble's annual display a pig lung simulating 20 years of heavy cigarette use sat on a table Tuesday near the main entrance next to a healthy lung so students could actually see the impact smoking can have on tissue health and overall organ function.

The lungs were eye-catching, and many students stopped between classes to check out the table run by district Health Coordinator Rebecca Hayes and Caitlin Littlefield, a representative from York Hospital who is also the tobacco prevention coordinator for the Maine Choose To Be Healthy Partnership.

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LETTER: Youth urge protection from secondhand smoke 

We are a group of 10- to 16-year-olds from Greater New Hope Church in Indianapolis. We belong to the VOICE movement, which is Indiana's youth-led movement against Big Tobacco targeting their products to us.

Today is Kick Butts Day, a national day of activism that empowers youth to take action against Big Tobacco. Big Tobacco doesn't want us to think secondhand smoke is a problem. We've been working with our adult allies and we know secondhand smoke is a big problem.

We are writing to show our support for a smoke-free air law that protects everyone, such as the first version of House Bill 1018. Now, the bill won't protect people in nursing homes, membership clubs, casinos, bars and clubs. We know that these establishments are not for us right now, but one day we will work in and go to these places.

As a group, we have older siblings, parents, grandparents and loved ones who will not be protected from other people's smoke if HB 1018 passes the way it is written. We want the Indiana Senate to fix the bill so that everyone is protected.

Jump to full article »