y- step: young people, smoking, tobacco education and prevention

Y- STEP: Young People, Smoking, Tobacco

Education and Prevention

Memories of Tobacco

Young People and Smoking

1. Why do some young people try their first cigarette?

2. Why do some young people go on to become regular smokers?

3. Why do some young people find it difficult to stop smoking?

Addiction

• Inhaling tobacco smoke delivers concentrated dose of nicotine reaching the brain in 7 seconds

• This releases two chemicals (noradrenaline and dopamine) which both acts as stimulants

• Symptoms of nicotine addiction occur very quickly – before becoming a weekly (or possibly daily) smoker

• Novice smokers may not recognise signs of dependence, eg: ‘rattling’ is soothed by a cigarette because it relieves symptoms of dependence, not stress

• Over time, smokers need greater amounts of nicotine

So what is in a cigarette?...

What’s in Cigarette Smoke?600 permitted additives as well as moisturisers; sugars/sweeteners; flavourings, cocoa

Tobacco smoke includes:Acetone as found in nail varnish remover, paint stripperArsenic* as found in insecticideBenzene* as found in petrol/paint manufactureButane as found in lighter fuelCadmium as found in batteriesCarbon monoxide as found in car exhaust fumesFormaldehyde as found in pickling bodiesHydrogen Cyanide as found on Death RowMethanol as found in rocket fuelMethane as found in farts, given off at landfill sitesPolonium-210 as found in nuclear industryRadon* as found in x-rays, nuclear industryAmmonia as found in loo cleaner

* classified as a “class A human carcinogen” US Environmental Protection Agency (ASH Scotland 2010)

SMOKING AND ITS EFFECTS

CSI: Effects on the BodyShort-term effects• Hair smells• Stained Teeth and Bad Breath • Yellow fingers • Smoker’s cough • Eyes water • Hands shake

Long-term effects • Wrinkled skin • Reduced sense of taste and smell • Heart attack • Cancer • Lung, mouth, throat, bladder and stomach cancer Giving up smoking

reduces the risk of getting cancer.• Poor circulation and gangrene 95% of gangrene cases occur in smokers.

CSI: Effects on the BodyPossible Causes of Death:

• Biggest cause of preventable premature death in Scotland (13,000 per annum), 114,000 in UK (ASH Scotland 2010)

• Can take 16 years off an average 75 years’ life expectancy

• 1:5 deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) are attributable to smoking

• 84% of all deaths from lung cancer related to smoking (1-14 cigarettes per day = 8 times risk than non-smokers)

• 30% of all cancer deaths are attributable to smoking

• 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema are attributable to smoking

• peripheral vascular disease = increased risk of amputation

TOBACCOTOBACCO

ADVERTISINGADVERTISING

UK BAN

• Masses spent on tobacco advertising - £20,000 for advertising in Superman II

• 2002 figures estimated that companies spent £8m a year sponsoring sporting events and a further £70m on Formula One alone in the UK

• First call for ban came from the Royal College of Physicians in 1962

• 1991 saw a ban on all television advertising throughout the EU (UK 1965)

• July 2005 this ban was extended to incorporate other media such as the internet, print media, radio, and sports events like F1

• In 2003, the EU halted the branding of cigarettes as "light" or "mild",

• In 2003 companies could no longer advertise cigarettes as ‘light’ or ‘mild’

Tobacco Packaging

• “It is the communication life-blood of the firm…the silent salesman”

• “It is a promotional tool in its own right”

• “It is a total opportunity for communications….a carefully planned brand or information communications campaign”

• “In this struggle to win over smokers, the pack and its messages have become increasingly important weapons”

• “The advertising ban in the UK effectively banned us from promoting all tobacco products and in this challenging environment the marketing team have to become more creative, we therefore decided to look at pack design”

Tobacco Advertising and Young People

• Tobacco companies invest huge sums of money in advertising and marketing their products in order to recruit new customers.

• These new customers are nearly always children and young people.

• Between 2002 and 2006 there was an increase in the proportion of young people aware of new pack designs from 11% in 2002 to 18% in 2006.

Tobacco Industry“We don’t smoke the s*it, we just sell it. We reserve the right to smoke for the young, the poor, the black and the stupid”R J Reynolds Tobacco

“Each cigarette smoked can be equated to one chest x-ray”University of Iowa Cancer Centre

“Very few consumers are aware of the effects of nicotine, i.e. its addictive nature and that nicotine is a poison”Brown and Williamson Memo 1978

Source: ‘You Are The Target’ Georgina Lovell 2002

• Therefore……

• New, young smokers are the PRIMARY TARGET of tobacco industry marketing.

• “Younger adult smokers are the only source of replacement smokers….If younger adults turn away from smoking, the industry must decline, just as a population which does not give birth will eventually dwindle”

• “….attract young smokers to replace the older ones who were dying or quitting….I was part of a scam, selling an image to young boys. My job was to get half a million kids to smoke by 1995”

• “They (13 year olds) represent tomorrow’s business”

• “If you are really and truly not going to sell to children, you are going to be out of business in 30 years”

Plain Packaging for all Tobacco

Products

W-WEST

• W-WEST is a youth advocacy group who aim provide young people with the right information to enable them to make informed choices about smoking.

• They are currently running a campaign looking at Plain Packaging and as part of this are carrying out a survey on young people’s opinions of tobacco packaging.

• For more information on W-WEST and to complete the survey, log onto www.w-west.org.uk

• A BIG thank you to W-West for help with this presentation content

Useful Websites www.w-west.org.uk

www.tobaccofreekids.org

www.thetruth.com

www.d-myst.info

www.seethroughtheillusion.co.uk

Stop Smoking Services

Young Person’s Stop Smoking Service: Confidential help and support TEXT: STOP SMOKING to 07969530266

wwww.canstopsmoking.com: support, tools and ideas

Smokeline: 0800 848484: 1-2-1 advice and support

Stopping Smoking in Pregnancy: Gill.davies@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk0131 672 9533 or 07771975453

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