Kick Butts Day 2012
Get your diaries out, my friends, and draw a little cigarette with a cross through it against Thursday 4 April 2012.
Why? Because it's Kick Butts Day.
The day is a partnership between Tenovus and Ffaith (ASH Wales Youth Programme), with the latter having the objective of reducing the acceptability and use of tobacco products by the young people of Wales.
The day will be full of activities, and will allow you to learn about the ill health caused by the use of tobacco along with the wider subjects of the tobacco industry in peer groups and local communities.
It's rather shocking to see the statistics concerning tobacco use by the youth of Wales, with children as young as seven starting smoking. Blimey.
Reports state that among Welsh 15-year-olds, 14% of girls claim to smoke regular. It's no better for the boys, with 9% of them reporting regular smoking.
There are forty nations that participated in the WHO Health Behaviour Of School Age Children Survey, with only two nations (which are Greenland and the Russian Federation) performing worse than Wales when it comes to the number of 13-year-old girls who smoke on a weekly basis.
Also, it seems that children whose relatives smoke are more likely to become smokers themselves.
Almost all smokers (between 66-90%) started as children, which is rather concerning as early uptake of smoking is also associated with heavier smoking patterns, a lesser likelihood of quitting and a higher chance of suffering from a smoking related disease.
Most smokers (7 out of 10) say that they wished they could stop smoking. With that in mind, why not join in and help in any way possible to lower these statistics?
You can download a free campaign book here. And while you're at it, why not join Kick Butts Day's Facebook page?
Info » Health » Smoking and Alcohol » Smoking
3 Comments – Post a comment
ToWriteLoveOnHerArms
Commented 5 months ago - 12th December 2011 - 14:54pm
It's shocking how many of my friends smoke. They always try and peer pressure me into it but with my cousin having health problems due to smoking, I will never ever smoke. It's disgusting and it's not as if you gain anything from it apart from health problems...
Ihavethecyrusvirusx
Commented 5 months ago - 12th December 2011 - 15:47pm
The amount of people I know that smoke is unbelievable. Some of them started in year 6 which is really bad. I don't like smoking anyway- just being around the smoke makes me sick- but starting at that age, it's got to have a bad effect on them. My granddad passed away thanks to smoking and my uncle is a heavy smoker and alcoholic so that's what's mainly put me off...
eddie secretary
Commented 5 months ago - 16th December 2011 - 00:43am
im not gonna lie i used to Smoke, it wasnt much but still i felt the sting of no money and the sting of a tight chest, so when it came to the point that A:- i couldnt really afford them any more with the prices going up, and B:- i couldnt really be bothered to smoke anymore so i just stopped, although i wasnt addicted so it was easy, i only ever had a Cigerette to reduce my stress level if i had a perticularly stressful day, but now i just find that its easier to chill in front the TV or in the garden instead, im still skint mind but im slowly saving up