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The Truth About Tobacco

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Tobacco Truths

LONG TERM:• Cancer• Respiratory disease• Heart attack• When used as

directed – kills people

SHORT TERM:• Makes your teeth

yellow and clothes smell

• Extremely addictive• Very costly – to all of

us• Legal problems

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More Tobacco Truths

• Tobacco kills more people each year than– Alcohol– AIDS– Car crashes– Illegal drugs– Murders– Suicides– Homicides

• COMBINED!

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Tobacco Myths

• It’s relaxing• Everyone’s doing it, so I should too• You’re only hurting yourself if you use• I’m 18, I have the right to choose to

smoke

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More Tobacco Myths

• Smokeless is safer than smoking• It is not as addictive as…• People can quit anytime they want

• THE TRUTH IS… Nicotine is more addictive than alcohol, heroin, or cocaine

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Why Do People Even Start?

• The Tobacco Industry knows how to market!

• They spend over $12.8 BILLION in the U.S. each year

• That’s $35 MILLION A DAY on advertising!

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Marketing Works!

• Research shows that youth are 3 times as sensitive to tobacco advertising that adults

• 1/3 of underage experimentation is attributable to tobacco advertising

• 81% of youth smokers prefer Marlboro, Camel and Newport- the 3 most heavily advertised brands

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They NEED it to Work!

• They know that 90% of smokers started in their teens

• They MUST get replacement smokers.

• Their customers DIE!

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Youth Tobacco Use

• Over 3.5 Million youth under 18 are current tobacco users

• 1/5 are current smokers by the time they leave high school

• 13.1% of 10th graders & 6.5% of 8th graders are current smokers

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Youth Tobacco Use

• 3,500 youth under age 18 try smoking for the first time each day

• 1,000 of them become regular daily smokers

• Youth consume 800 Million packs of cigarettes each year ($2 Billion in revenue)

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What’s in the Stuff Anyway?

• 599 ingredients that when burned ignite over 4,000 dangerous chemicals

• Over 50 of which are KNOWN to cause cancer

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What’s in the Stuff Anyway?

• Some of the common ingredients include:– Ammonia – Acetone– Arsenic– Cyanide– Formaldehyde – DDT– Cadmium

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Tobacco’s Toll on US

• 400,000 smokers die each year

• 50,000 nonsmokers die each year

• 1,200 people will lose their lives TODAY because of tobacco

• That’s one person every 72 seconds

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Secondhand Smoke

• 15.5 Million kids in the U.S. are exposed to secondhand smoke in the home

• Waiters and Waitresses who work in a smoke-filled restaurant or bar inhale enough 2nd hand smoke to have smoked 2 packs during an 8-hr shift!

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Secondhand Smoke

• Contains all the same harmful chemicals as the smoke from the cigarette

• Chemicals stay in air, and in fabric, etc for extended period of time

• Third-hand smoke is becoming a problem!

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For more information…

• Texas School Safety Center:– www.txssc.txstate.edu/si – 877-304-2727

• Ruby Moore– Program Manager– rm72@txstate.edu

• For statistical information:– www.tobaccofreekids.org