from staff reports
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN — Youth in Lauderdale and Newton County will join others across the state and nationwide on March 24 to voice their opposition of Big Tobacco during 2010 Kick Butts Day.
Kick Butts Day is an annual nationwide initiative in which kids lead the effort to snuff out youth tobacco use. As part of this year’s Kick Butts Day celebration, the Mississippi Tobacco-Free Coalition of Lauderdale County is working with students at West Lauderdale Middle, Union Middle, Newton Middle, Calvary Christian High and Oakland Heights Elementary schools to help them educate their peers about tobacco companies’ deceptive marketing practices.
“The tobacco companies call kids ‘replacement smokers.’ Kick Butts Day is an opportunity for participating youth to speak out and tell others they are tobacco-free,” said Sabrina Wilson, director of Mississippi Tobacco Free Coalition of Lauderdale and Newton County.
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 people every year. Every day, more than 4,000 kids try their first cigarettes while another 1,000 kids become addicted smokers, one-third of whom will die prematurely as a result. Sixty-nine thousand Mississippi kids now fewer than 18 will ultimately die prematurely from smoking, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
“Mississippi’s kids play a huge role in helping to reduce youth tobacco use in our state,” said Roy Hart, director of the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) Office of Tobacco Control.
“The kids participating in Kick Butts Day 2010 are sending two very important messages: they want the tobacco industry to stop tar getting them with advertising and they want elected leaders to do more to protect them from tobacco,” Hart said.
Through MSDH’s local tobacco-free coalitions, young advocates take part in a variety of tobacco prevention activities throughout the school year including working with elected officials to develop policies that reduce youth tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke and educating their peers about the risks of tobacco use.
The Mississippi Tobacco-Free Coalition of Lauderdale and Newton County is a community-based coalition that works to prevent the initiation of tobacco use among youth, reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, promote tobacco cessation services, and eliminate tobacco-related disparities. This program is funded by the Mississippi State Department of Health.
For more information about the Kick Butts Day event in Lauderdale County or for tobacco cessation information, contact Mississippi Tobacco Free Coalition of Lauderdale and Newton County at (601) 483-2661 or visit www.HealthyMS.com.
