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Cover Story - Spanish Version

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Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

Can Kids Stop Kids From Smoking?

Spanish Translation

By Ritu Upadhyay

Last week 700 teenagers in New Jersey rallied to REBEL. They came together to launch a statewide, kid-created antismoking campaign, REBEL (Reaching Everyone by Exposing Lies). In front of hundreds, including New Jersey Governor Donald DiFrancesco, the teens chanted their battle cry, "Not for Sale," to protest tobacco companies.

"The way cigarette makers target kids with ads makes me sick to my stomach," says REBEL volunteer Jessie Leigh Smolin, 17. "We're not for sale; they can't buy us."

Taking On Tobacco Giants
The tobacco industry is being held responsible, in public and by the courts, for the negative health effects of smoking. In November 1998 the industry settled a lawsuit filed by 46 states. Big Tobacco, as the six giant cigarette makers are known, agreed to pay the states $250 billion over the next 25 years. The money will help cover the costs of caring for people with tobacco-related illnesses.

Most of the states promised to use some of the settlement money to start smoking-prevention programs. Though many states have yet to take action, a few have begun in-your-face campaigns created by kids. Their success has started a more aggressive movement against the industry. Kids are sending a message to Big Tobacco: You can't make us believe that smoking is cool.

Studies show that the earlier kids try smoking, the higher their chances of becoming a regular smoker. Health experts warn that if kids continue to smoke at current rates, more than 5 million children now under age 18 will eventually die from smoking-related diseases.

A study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, last December revealed that school-based programs alone are not very effective in curbing smoking among teens. With the funds made available from the settlement, states have been able to branch out of the traditional health-class lessons and pay for youth groups to help create more effective antismoking programs.

On February 7, kids in Vermont marched to their statehouse to urge their peers to be tobacco free.

Where Are Kids Fighting Back?
Mississippi, which ranks fourth nationally in the number of lives lost to tobacco-related illnesses, created a group called Frontline to help tackle the problem. Last year the group, made up of high school kids, pushed through a bill in the state legislature that prohibits the use of tobacco at school athletic events. The bill also made it illegal for teachers to use tobacco in public schools, even in the teachers' lounge. The students testified before committees, talked to lawmakers and organized support around the state. Mississippi attorney general Mike Moore says the bills wouldn't have passed so quickly if it hadn't been for the support of the students.

Frontline youth counselors also go into schools to tell younger students about the hazards of smoking. They entertain the kids with skits and dances. The state claims that teen smoking rates dropped 10% in high schools and 21% in middle schools in just one year after the program began!

Working to get the message out is gratifying, says Seth Bassett, 18, co-chairman of Frontline: "I have a friend who quit smoking after he saw our ad. (It shows that an 18-year-old who smokes has the lungs of a 50-year-old.) I've smoked before, but I know the dangers now and wouldn't touch it."

In Mississippi, kids work on antismoking projects created by Frontline volunteers.

Ever since Florida began using tobacco-settlement money in 1998 to target teen tobacco use, smoking has gone down 40% among middle-school students and 18% among teens in high schools. A meeting with teens in 1998 showed that kids were tired of hearing the same old health messages. That prompted the start of a student-run program called Truth. The success of the campaign in Florida led to a nationwide launch of kid-created Truth ads. You may have seen some of them on TV.

"It's all about the delivery of the message," says Leonardo Casas, 16, a volunteer with REBEL. "Just like tobacco companies try to tell kids it's cool to smoke, we frame the message so that kids can see it's much cooler not to."

Next: Sharon's Tough Task