Healthy Habits: Kick Butts Day

Kids nationwide will stand up against tobacco on March 19 for the 19^th annual Kick Butts Day. More than 1,400 events are planned across the nation.

 

Organized by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Kick Butts Day is an annual celebration of youth leadership and activism in the fight against tobacco. On Kick Butts Day, youth will encourage their peers to stay tobacco-free and educate their communities about the tobacco industry’s harmful marketing practices.

 

This year, Kick Butts Day comes as new information reaffirms the urgent need for action. The United States is marking the 50^th anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health, and a new Surgeon General’s report released in January found that smoking is even more hazardous than previously thought. Key findings of the report include:

• Each year, smoking kills 480,000 people in the U.S. and costs the nation at least $289 billion in health care bills and other economic losses.
• Without urgent action to reduce smoking, 5.6 million U.S. children alive today will die prematurely from smoking-caused disease. That includes 102,000 children in Minnesota alone.
• Tobacco marketing causes kids to start and continue using tobacco products. 

Nationwide, tobacco companies spend $8.8 billion a year – one million dollars each hour – to market cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. In particular, tobacco companies target youth with magazine ads, store ads and discounts, and fruit- and candy-flavored small cigars that look just like cigarettes.

   

In Minnesota alone, tobacco use claims 5,400 lives and costs $2.51 billion in health care bills each year. Currently, 18.1 percent of the state’s high school students smoke.

 

On Kick Butts Day, kids turn the tables on Big Tobacco in creative ways, with events that range from small classroom activities about the harmful ingredients in cigarettes to large rallies at state capitols.

 

Activities in Minnesota include a "quit cold turkey" sandwich giveaway at Itasca Community College, a display at John Glenn Middle School and Lancaster Public School, and a demonstration at U of MN - Duluth.

For a full list of Kick Butts Day events, visit http://www.kickbuttsday.org/map. Additional information about tobacco, including state-by-state statistics, can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org.