Tinker youth learn to Kick Butts

Published March 25, 2016
By Kimberly Woodruff
Staff Writer

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- On March 16, teens from the Tinker Youth Center took part in Kick Butts Day, an event aimed at teaching them the dangers of tobacco. It's also a day that empowers youth to stand out, speak up and seize control against Big Tobacco.

Laura Crowder, Tinker's Health Promotion manager, was on hand to share information about tobacco use because she wants the teens to be informed and not just rely on marketing ploys of the tobacco companies. The tobacco industry markets products from traditional cigarettes to vaping toward kids and misleads the public, Ms. Crowder said.

Ms. Crowder had some fun anti-smoking campaign handouts with jokes, puzzles and games. A couple of the favorite jokes were: "Why don't frogs smoke? Because they already know how to croak!" and "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get away from the secondhand smoke!"

Secondhand smoke is just as dangerous. It is responsible for more than 53,000 deaths every year. Not only is secondhand smoke bad for people, it also is very dangerous for pets.

Ms. Crowder said pets living in a home with a smoker are twice as likely to get cancer due to secondhand smoke. Dogs and cats are especially susceptible, but the chemicals in cigarettes can also affect other pets such as birds, lizards and hamsters.

Until recently, very little research has been done concerning the effects of smoke on pets. Studies are now showing that pets do indeed suffer health problems as a result of secondhand smoke. Allergies, asthma, respiratory problems, lung disorders and lung or nasal cancer are problems facing pets living with a smoker.

The chemicals in tobacco include but aren't limited to: arsenic, used in rat poison; hydrazine, used in rocket fuel; naphthalene, used in explosives; formaldehyde, an embalming fluid; moth balls and paint pigments. That isn't even all of them. In fact, there are more than 4,000 chemicals in tobacco products and over half of those are cancer causing.

The message Ms. Crowder hopes the children learned was to not let tobacco companies hook them, and if they have a parent or grandparent who smokes, ask them to stop.

"One little girl attended one of these classes and went home to tell her grandma, "If you loved me, you would quit smoking," said Ms. Crowder.

Her grandmother quit.