TOBACCO HIGHLIGHTS

Think about your school and the kids you see every day. Roughly one out of three kids who start smoking will die prematurely from a tobacco-related illness. Here is the kind of information that the tobacco companies’ advertising and marketing won’t tell you. :

►Smoking kills more than 400,000 Americans each year – more than alcohol, cocaine, crack, heroin, homicide, suicide, car accidents, fires and AIDS combined.

►Each day, roughly 5,000 kids under 18 try smoking for the first time, and more than 2,000 kids become new daily smokers.

►Smokers lose an average of 12 years of life due to their habit.

►The chemical nicotine found in cigarettes and other tobacco products is an addictive drug, which is why it is so hard for people to quit using tobacco. Nicotine is also a deadly poison used in many bug sprays. It is so potent that one drop (70 mg) in its liquid form will kill an average adult.

►Evidence indicates that tobacco companies manipulate the nicotine level in cigarettes to hook smokers.

►With every puff on a cigarette, you breathe in 4,700 chemicals, including ammonia (a poisonous gas and a powerful toilet cleaner), arsenic (a poisonous solvent and paint stripper), formaldehyde (used to preserve dead frogs), toluene (a poisonous industrial solvent), polonium-210 (a highly radioactive element) and carbon monoxide (a poisonous gas). Disgusting, but true!

►Lung cancer, throat cancer, heart disease, stroke and emphysema are just some of the painful, life-threatening diseases linked with smoking. Smoking also is associated with cancers of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, pancreas, cervix, kidney and bladder.

►Smoking limits the amount of oxygen in the blood, reducing your stamina for sports, and other physical activities.

► Smoke turns your teeth and fingernails yellow, makes your hair, clothes and breath smell and causes premature wrinkling of skin.

YOUTH SMOKING RATES

►Almost 90 percent of adults who have ever been regular smokers began smoking at or before age 18.

►The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report smoking rates for students in grades 9-12 increased from 27.5 percent in 1991 to 34.8 percent in 1999.

For state-specific tobacco facts, visit www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/osh/data.htm or www.tobaccofreekids.org.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT SEEKS TEEN VOLUNTEERS FOR TOBACCO AGE OF SALE PROGRAM

HAPADA, the Hackensack City Health Department and the New Jersey State Department of Health and Senior Services are co-sponsoring a Tobacco Age of Sale Enforcement (TASE) program. The goal is to ensure that local merchants observe the law that makes it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under 18 years of age in New Jersey. Here’s how it works:

Teenage volunteers (15 to 17 years of age), accompanied by a Health Department Sanitary Inspector, visit local merchants and attempt to buy tobacco products. While the inspector waits outside the store, the youth, who has been instructed to tell the truth if asked about his or her age, goes in and tries to buy a tobacco product. The youth then leaves the store and reports to the inspector whether he/she was allowed to purchase a tobacco product. If so, the merchant is liable for a summons, which carries a $250 to $1000 fine and/or possible license revocation. If the merchant did not sell tobacco to the minor, the inspector issues a special “Merchant Recognition Certificate” to acknowledge compliance with the law.

The TASE program has been in place since 1994 and is responsible for a significant reduction in the number of Hackensack stores that sell tobacco products to minors. The program also provides students with a unique volunteer experience, which is documented by a State Health Department certificate at the conclusion of the program. Parental permission is required. Interested parents or students should contact John Christ at the Hackensack Health Department, 201-646-3966.

INCREASING YOUR CHILD’S SENSE

OF FAMILY SUPPORT

We all want our children to grow up to be healthy, competent, caring adults. How do we accomplish this amid increases in violence, substance use, unsafe sexual practices and negative media influence? Experts in the field of youth development know that families will have the greatest influence on youth, far surpassing peers and the media. The relationship you have with your child will ultimately determine the course their lives will take.

There are many ways families can convey their support:

►Provide boundaries and expectations that help your child feel safe.

►Be a role model to your children. Demonstrate your own communication, social and life skills.

►Expose your children to a variety of extracurricular opportunities and you’ll provide them with constructive use of their time, other adult role models and positive peer relationships.

►Teach your children your values with clarity and consistency; it’s the best way to help them refuse alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

The Youth Empowerment Network of the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse of Bergen, Inc. provides parents with tools to increase their children’s sense of family support and other critical assets. Positive Parenting seminars are offered in Hackensack and other Bergen County communities. For further information or a schedule of Positive Parenting seminars, contact Bonnie Berkowitz at 201-488-8680 or visit www.youthempower.org.