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Excerpts from: Teenager Fights to Prevent Kids From Smoking

By MIKE BILLINGTON The News Journal [7/07/03]

Meghan Pasricha has launched an all-out, international attack on tobacco.

She started an anti-tobacco group at Sanford School. And although she's not old enough to vote, the 17-year-old has lobbied for the state's anti-smoking law and for more federal regulation of tobacco. She started an anti-smoking group in India and plans to do the same in Mexico.

Pasricha also is working on plans to start an anti-tobacco Web site and is the president-elect of the Kick Butts Generation, a statewide anti-smoking group.

For her efforts, Pasricha recently was named winner of this year's Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids International Advocate Award. She will lead anti-tobacco training programs, attend anti-tobacco conferences and serve as an anti-smoking spokeswoman.

"You could say I'm very passionate about this," said Pasricha, who lives in Hockessin.

Sheri Towner-Gabrelcik, the youth coordinator for the American Lung Association of Delaware, said she has seldom met anyone as dedicated to the anti-smoking fight as Pasricha.

"Her efforts to educate her peers about the dangers of tobacco and to rally youth around the Clean Indoor Air law have been nothing short of remarkable," Towner-Gabrelcik said.

Pasricha approaches life in general with that same level of commitment.

She not only plays golf at Sanford, she's captain of the women's team. She didn't just take karate lessons; she earned a black belt.

She needs that kind of commitment in the fight against smoking in Delaware, where about one in four high school students smoke, and each year, about 2,200 kids start.

"It's not easy," Pasricha said, "but that just means we have to work harder."

When she went to India last summer with her family, she was "appalled" at the advertising that tobacco companies use to lure people - and children - to buy their products.

Pasricha, who speaks Hindi in addition to Spanish and English, set out to do something about that. She put together a small group of young men and women, and she taught the group how to fight tobacco usage.

It faces tough odds.

"But they are so excited about the idea, so enthusiastic that they actually inspired me to do even more," she said.

When she returned home, she did just that.

Pasricha went to Washington to meet with Democratic Senators Joe Biden and Tom Carper and Republican Rep. Mike Castle. Her current cause: giving the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products.

Her argument: If the government can regulate macaroni and cheese, why not tobacco?

Pasricha and other teens are "making great strides against youth tobacco addiction," said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

That's true, Pasricha said, but there's still a lot to do.

Towner-Gabrelcik said she has no doubts that Pasricha will get done whatever needs doing.

"Meghan's commitment and passion is unmatched," she said.