Surgeon General’s Video Contest: Tobacco – I’m Not Buying It!
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is betting that young people have something powerful to say about smoking.
Teens 13–17 years old and young adults 18–25 years old are invited to develop original videos that feature one or more of these findings from the recent Surgeon General’s report on tobacco use and young people:
- Cigarette smoking by teens and young adults immediately starts a series of health consequences that include addiction, lung problems, asthma, and heart disease.
- Advertising and promotional activities by tobacco companies influence adolescents and young adults to start and continue smoking.
- Use of tobacco products by teens and young adults shows signs of increasing after years of steady decline.
Submit a video by yourself or with a group of friends, and you could win up to $1,000!
Why You Should Submit a Video
Approximately 88 percent of adults who smoke cigarettes daily report that they started smoking before age 18.
Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable and premature death in America, killing more than 1,200 people every day. For every tobacco-related death, two new young people become regular smokers.
To keep their companies in business, tobacco manufacturers need new people to pick up the habit. This contest is an opportunity to tell them and others why YOU won’t be one of them!
Contest Rules
The deadline for submitting a video is April 20, 2012. Individuals or groups can submit videos in English or Spanish.
All submissions must be made through Challenge.gov. Go there to learn more and submit your video for the tobacco contest.
Grand prize winners in each of four categories will receive $1,000. Three runners-up in each category will receive $500.
Find inspiration for your video by checking out these resources:
- Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General
- Past SBB blog posts on smoking and tobacco
- Facts on tobacco and nicotine addiction from NIDA for Teens
- Facts on tobacco and kids from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
- Tips on quitting from former smokers
Let’s Talk: Where do you find science-based health information?
Many U.S. Government agencies have Web sites to share information and resources with the public. Some help you find services you need—for instance, the Motor Vehicle Administration in your state helps you understand how to get your driver’s license. The CDC site helps your parents know what vaccines to get before they travel internationally. Some agencies, like NASA or the Smithsonian Institution, have upped the “cool factor” and designed contests, stories, games, and puzzles to entertain younger Web visitors.
Other Government Web sites, like NIDA’s, are geared to help teens and their families understand health issues from a science perspective. Two of our favorite sites (besides the Sara Bellum Blog and NIDA for Teens, of course!) include:
- Above the Influence offers teen-focused, informative, and accurate drug- and alcohol-related info, not to mention a cool logo and tons of ways to get involved in helping friends and family learn the facts.
- Distraction is also geared to young people, with info about distracted driving and why you should avoid it.
Many Government agencies are designing their outreach efforts to do more than talk at you—they want feedback like comments on blogs, contest entries, photos, and more. In fact, SBB is asking for your feedback right now!
What Government Web sites do you like? What do you like about them? Do you use them for anything besides school projects? And do you ever share your opinions on these types of Web sites?
To answer the questions, you can either write your response in the “Leave a Reply” box below, or send us a message. We read all of your comments and feedback.
Don’t forget that you can respond to questions we’ve asked before. As always, we look forward to hearing from you!
Teen Brain, a Work in Progress
Have you ever wondered why you have to be 16 to get your driver’s license or 18 to vote or 21 to legally drink alcohol?
It’s partly because your brain is not ready to take on these responsibilities, since your brain is not fully developed when you’re a teen.
During the teen years, essential parts of the brain are still forming—like the prefrontal cortex, which allows people to weigh the pros and cons of situations instead of acting on impulse. This is one reason why teens are generally more likely to take risks than adults.
For example, with alcohol, teens may be less able to judge when to stop drinking. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tells us that each year, more than 4,600 alcohol-related deaths occur among those less than 21 years old—that is way too many.
Research shows that alcohol and other drugs change the brain’s structure and how it works in the short and long term. In the short term, drugs affect your brain’s judgment and decision-making abilities, while long-term use causes brain changes that can set people up for addiction and other problems. The brains of people who become addicted get altered so that drugs are now their top priority—and they will compulsively seek and use drugs even though doing so brings devastating consequences for their lives and for those who care about them.
Do yourself a favor and use your brain to make smart choices, reach your goals, and achieve your full potential in life.
Not LOKO for Alcoholic Energy Drinks
You may remember that a while back, SBB addressed an unhealthy new fad—energy drinks. We speculated that these drinks, although highly publicized in the coolest venues, were not safe even though they promised to deliver an extra dose of energy. Now, SBB confronts an even more dangerous issue: alcoholic energy drinks, like Four LOKO.
Why are alcoholic energy drinks so dangerous? They contain two main substances—alcohol and caffeine, the first a depressant and the second a stimulant. These two substances should never be consumed in large quantities and they should definitely never be mixed. Why? Because they have opposite effects on your body that can fool you into drinking more than you can handle.
Depressants like alcohol slow down the central nervous system. Drinking a lot of alcohol can affect your coordination and perception and even make you pass out. Stimulants meanwhile “wake up” the central nervous system and increase energy and alertness.
Opposites Do Not Attract. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the caffeine in alcoholic energy drinks masks the effects that the alcohol has on the body, which motivates people to drink more. Worse, the average beer has 4 to 5 percent alcohol, while an alcoholic energy drink is 12 percent alcohol! Therefore, people can get really drunk without realizing it, making them more vulnerable to overdose, alcohol poisoning, and even death.
In the past few months, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has pulled alcoholic energy drinks like Four LOKO off store shelves, banning them in many states.
Better to keep it natural—go for a run or do some yoga to “feel-good.”
Snus-You?
Smokeless tobacco is the latest nicotine-based product to drift into the marketplace and try to catch the attention of young people.
Snus pouches are a new version of snuff, or chewing tobacco laced with nicotine. Instead of putting a loose wad of tobacco inside the upper lip or between the cheek and gums, snus pouches look like small tea bags. These products are “spitless”, making their use easy to hide. Some tobacco companies even add flavors – like vanilla, peppermint, or spearmint – along with a sweetener.
These flavors are more likely to make the product appeal to young people.
Isn’t snus safer than cigarettes?
Snus has a similar effect on your brain, acting as a stimulant. Although it is marketed as an alternative to cigarettes, the little packets of wet tobacco are just as addictive. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health agencies have determined that smokeless tobacco products:
- Cause serious diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other diseases of the mouth, gums, and teeth;
- May increase the risk of serious diseases when used in combination with smoking;
- Cause adverse reproductive effects and should not be used during pregnancy; and
- Are not a safe alternative to smoking.
So don’t let a clever name, fun packaging, or candy flavors fool you. By the way, here’s the un-fun part of the package, but that’s because it’s required by law:
Warning: This product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes.
Who’s using snus?
According to NIDA’s 2009 Monitoring the Future survey of teens (PDF, 1.34 MB), the use of smokeless tobacco is increasing significantly among 10th and 12th graders. The percentage of 12th graders reporting past-month smokeless tobacco use increased from 6.1 percent in 2006 to 8.4 percent in 2009, a 38 percent increase, while the percentage of 10th graders reporting smokeless tobacco use increased from 4.9 percent in 2004 to 6.5 percent in 2009, a 33 percent increase.
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National Institute on Drug Abuse | National Institutes of Health | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
