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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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Today, April 13 is National Kick Butts Day [04/13-3]
Excerpts from: Kids Take Center Stage in Fight Against Tobacco on April 13, Kick Butts Day
CTFK [04/12/05]
Thousands of kids across America take center stage in the fight against tobacco on April 13 as they participate in the tenth annual Kick Butts Day. About 2,000 events are planned in all 50 states (news releases listing events in each state can be found at www.kickbuttsday.org).
Sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Kick Butts Day is an annual celebration of youth leadership and activism in the fight against tobacco use. From rallies at state capitols to mock trials of the Marlboro Man, kids are sending two powerful messages on Kick Butts Day: They want the tobacco industry to stop targeting them with marketing for cigarettes and other tobacco products, and they want elected officials to do more to protect them from tobacco.
Adding to the excitement of this year’s Kick Butts Day is the participation of two-time Olympic gold medal swimmer Natalie Coughlin as national spokesperson for the event. Coughlin won five medals – two gold, two silver and a bronze – in the Athens Olympics last summer, making her the most decorated female athlete at those games.
This year’s Kick Butts Day comes as a recent survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that our nation’s recent progress in reducing youth tobacco use has slowed considerably or stalled. Since peaking at 36.4 percent in 1997, the national smoking rate for high school students has declined by 40 percent, to about 22 percent. However, the recent CDC survey found no significant changes in either high school or middle school smoking rates from 2002 to 2004.
Public health experts have pointed to several reasons for this leveling off in youth smoking rates: While states have cut funding for tobacco prevention programs by 28 percent in the last three years, the tobacco companies have increased their marketing expenditures to a record $12.7 billion a year – more than $34 million a day. More than two-thirds of all tobacco marketing dollars is spent on cigarette price discounts and free cigarette giveaways that make cigarettes more affordable to kids, who are very price-sensitive.
“On Kick Butts Day, kids are standing up to the tobacco companies and demanding that public officials join with them by supporting proven tobacco prevention measures,” said William V. Corr, Executive Director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “The dramatic progress our nation has made since the first Kick Butts Day ten years ago shows that we know how to reduce tobacco use. But the recent CDC survey is a wakeup call to elected officials that they cannot take continued progress for granted and must redouble efforts to implement proven measures to reduce tobacco use, including tobacco tax increases, well-funded tobacco prevention programs, and smoke-free air laws.”
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 people and costing the nation more than $89 billion in health care bills each year. Every day, another 2,000 kids become regular smokers, one-third of whom will die prematurely as a result.
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