In Texas, health advocates are urging state leaders to enact a statewide smoke-free law that applies to all workplaces, restaurants, and bars.
AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Cigarette companies pay more than $12.8 billion each year to to promote their products. Now one Amarillo group is promoting awareness about the ultimate price you pay when using them.
The North YMCA and Family Support Services joined together Wednesday to Kick Butts. It's part of a national effort in the fight against tobacco use. To Kick Butts the group of about 10 wanted to stand out and speak up, and stand out is just what they did.
As part of a freeze flash mob the teenagers held signs about the consequences of tobacco use in the food court at the Westgate mall.
"Once you know the facts about it, like I looked at pictures of healthy lungs verse non-healthy lungs and you know what's in cigarettes, it's grody," said Rachel Delagarza, a River Road High School Freshman. "It ruins your body, especially if you're an athlete," said Trent Dailing, 17, a student at River Road High School.
They emphasize that tobacco products are the only products that will kill you when used as directed. It also ruins the health of those around you, four in 10 non-smokers are still exposed to secondhand smoke, including more than half of children aged 3-11. The campaign for Tobacco-free kids said tobacco use kills more than 400,000 people each year in the United States. That's more than AIDS, alcohol, murders, drugs, fries and car accidents combined. Even if the number of tobacco related deaths were cut in half, something would still kill more people than all of these other causes. According to a press release from the campaign, 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.
"That's where it starts, when they're kids, tobacco is addictive and they start, it's generally just to try it once, they don't ever stop," said Nelly Villa Gomez, from Family Support Services. So in order to get them to stop, or even better not even start, the group chose to "freeze" control against big tobacco. The flash mob stayed still for 10 minutes, and then other members handed out brochures to show people how they can take action.
"We just wanted to make sure that the kids were able to bring awareness to this event and everybody says it's cool to smoke, go with the crowd, and it's not, you're just killing yourself," said Villa Gomez.
"The people I know that do smoke, they're like, "Oh, I'll never get addicted," but it's like, really, you kinda are," said Delagarza. In the hopes that willpower won't go up in smoke, the group wants you to seize control and support tobacco prevention measures.
In Texas, health advocates are urging state leaders to enact a statewide smoke-free law that applies to all workplaces, restaurants, and bars. To date, 29 states and the District of Columbia have enacted smoke-free laws that cover all restaurants and bars.
Ever wonder what's in a cigarette, click here to find out.
To see a fact sheet detailing taxes and prevention programs, click here.
