Youth Stand Up to Big Tobacco on Kick Butts Day: t-shirts gives area students the power to be heard

Three area schools want to stand up, speak out, and seize control against Big Tobacco. Oshkosh West High School, Winneconne Middle School, and Neenah High School are using the power of the T-shirt to promote youth advocacy against Big Tobacco companies as part of Kick Butts Day (March 25), a national day of youth empowerment sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Students created the designs for the shirts after learning all the tactics Big Tobacco uses to get kids to buy their products. They are now using their own words and sales against them by wearing their shirts on Wednesday to educate and engage other youth in the fight.

Oshkosh West’s students chose to focus on how Big Tobacco doesn’t care about how many people they kill: "We really need something for people to die of." –British American Tobacco, 1987. (Yes, a tobacco company actually said this). Tobacco kills about 8000 people in Wisconsin every year, and another 1200 die from diseases related to second-hand smoke.

Winneconne Middle chose to not be a target for Tobacco’s advertising money: "I am not a target of Big Tobacco. They are wasting their $276 million. I won’t fall for their dirty tricks." Tobacco companies spend $276 million on advertising each year in Wisconsin. Only $15 million is allotted to fund the State’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program.

Neenah High is playing the numbers game with select students wearing shirts with a number like 20% or 400,000. Only about 20% (1 out of 5) high school students in Wisconsin smoke. 400,000 people die annually in the US. 400,000 kids under 18 also start smoking each year. Several students also created a public service announcement for their school. It can be viewed at http://moodle.neenah.k12.wi.us/groups/wnhs/blog

The Tobacco-Free & Drug-Free Communities Coalition of Winnebago County teaches kids that most adults and kids don’t smoke and that Big Tobacco is marketing specifically to them. But, that message is much more effective when it comes from their peers.

Additional information on Kick Butts Day can be found at http://kickbuttsday.org/

My SmokeFree Story website allows everyone to be heard

Do you have a story to share about second-hand smoke? How it affects you and your family and friends? Know someone that has suffered the ill effects of someone else's smoke?

Here's the place to tell story. www.mysmokefreestory.com

When we talk about the effects of secondhand smoke in our lives, we stand a better chance of getting secondhand smoke out of our lives—and our air—for good.

There are two easy ways to share your story:

Call--It's your story, tell it in your own voice— call toll-free, 1-866-94STORY (1-866-947-8679). Just follow a few simple instructions to make an audio submission that could be featured on mysmokfreestory.com. It's a free and easy way to share your thoughts and feelings about the air we all have to breathe.

Click--Just click 'share your story' on the website to tell your smoke-free story, even upload a photo. Then hit "preview" to see your submission before you send it. You'll be contacted to let you know when your story is available online.

Coalition Informs Communities about Statewide Smoke-Free Air

Engaged supporters urged to contact legislators

Several community members came out to one of two Town Hall-style meetings on March 4 in Menasha and March 5 in Oshkosh to learn about the status of the smoke-free air law that Governor Doyle introduced with his budget in mid-February. Supporters listened to a variety of speakers as to the reasons why Wisconsin needs to go smoke-free in all workplaces.

At the Menasha meeting, held at the Menasha Public Library, residents heard from Dr. Shiloh Ramos, who practices family medicine and sits on the Winnebago County Board of Health. He explained that workplace smoke-free air policies dramatically reduce heart attacks in smokers and non-smokers. Jeff Phillips, the Environmental Health Supervisor for Winnebago County, refuted the argument that many opponents of a smoke-free air law make. "Delivery people, plumbers, electricians, sanitarians, and health inspectors don’t get to choose which businesses they go into. They often get left out of the discussion."

Eduardo Sanchez, owner of Solea Mexican Grill in Menasha didn’t open his first restaurant smoke-free, but after listening to the concerns of his employees, polling his customers and receiving a phone call from one of his best customers that had asthma, he decided to go smoke-free. His second location in Neenah opened smoke-free and business couldn’t be better. Finally, Maureen Busalacchi, from SmokeFree WI, gave an update on where the legislation for smoke-free air sits and recommended that supporters contact their legislators with their opinions. Representative Dean Kaufert, answered questions from the audience.

The following evening at the Oshkosh Public Library, community members listened to Dr. Brian Harrison from Affinity Occupational Health explain that any amount of second-hand smoke increase one’s risk for a heart attack which in the end costs everyone in lives and dollars lost. UWO Nursing student Erin Foldstad told her story about working as a waitress in a smoke-filled environment as she tries to put herself through college, noting that the best paying jobs for students are usually in bars and restaurants.

Representative Gordon Hintz, who has been a champion in the Legislature for Tobacco Prevention and Control, gave several reasons why Wisconsin should go smoke-free. "One of the best ways that the State can reduce health care costs, without spending a lot of taxpayers’ money, is to implement a statewide smoke-fee air law." The final speaker of the night, Liz Sanger, from SmokeFree WI, invited the audience to contact their legislator, write a letter to the editor, and visit www.mysmokefreestory.com or the the Holding our Breath campaign website, http://holdingourbreathwi.com to get their voices heard.

Former Winston Man Dies of Cancer

Alan Landars, former Winson model and now anti-tobacco company adovcate passed away on February 27 from complications of his throat cancer.

He spoke out against tobacco marketing to children and worked to hold the tobacco industry accountable and liable for causing addiction and disease in smokers. He supported regulating tobacco products and nicotine as a drug and was the spokesman for the World Health Organization. Most people in the world of Tobacco Control recognize his testimony against Big Tobacco when he quoted an executive: "We don't smoke it. We just sell it. We reserve that for the young, the poor, the black, and the stupid."

He appeared in the majority of the print ads for the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s as the “Winston Man”. He also appeared on billboards and in magazine advertisments holding a Winston cigarette urging others, young and old, to smoke. Alan was expected to portray smoking as stylish, pleasurable, and attractive and was required to smoke on the set, constant smoking was required to achieve the correct appearance of the cigarette, ash and butt length.

Despite the fact that he worked closely with cigarette company personnel during the shooting, at no time was he ever told that cigarettes could be dangerous to his health.

In 1987, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Since then he faced one medical challenge after another, and, since his second diagnosis in 1993, had survived with only two lobes of his lungs. His lungs looked good, until in late 2008 he was diagnosed with inoperable throat cancer.

To learn more about this tobacco-control advocate, visit his website: http://winstonman.com/

Binge Drinking on College Campuses

Thanks to partner Steve Herman, Winnebago County Sheriff Deparment, for his comittment to our cause. He shared this article. Click on link to view in its entirety.

Summary: 60 Minutes, CBS's weekly newsmagazine (link was posted in an earlier TFDFC blog), aired a story on underage drinking focused on the significant problem of binge drinking on college campuses but did not include peer-reviewed scientific data showing lives are being saved.

http://www.jointogether.org/news/yourturn/announcements/2009/60-minutes-youth-access.html?log-event=sp2f-view-item&nid=49472735