8th Graders Participate in Great American Smokeout
8th Graders Participate in Great American Smokeout Save Email Print
Posted: 9:28 AM Nov 20, 2008
Last Updated: 10:46 AM Nov 20, 2008

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Approximately 400 hundred eighth graders at Washburn Rural Middle School participated in the latest drive by the American Cancer Society to steer the teens away from tobacco.

Students were divided in three groups Thursday morning for presentations in the school cafeteria. The demonstrations were part of the ACS's 32nd annual Great American Smokeout®.

The Society calls smoking the "most preventable cause of death in our society." Half of all smokers will die prematurely from smoking-related disease, they claim, with lung cancer being the leading cause of cancer deaths for men and women in the U.S.

Nearly a fifth of Kansans smoke, according to ACS statistics, and 30% use tobacco in some form.

Jennifer Taylor, American Cancer society health initiatives community manager, cites statistics that claim around one-quarter of teenagers in the U.S. smoke and nearly nine in ten smokers started before they were eighteen.

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Posted by: Shelly Location: Topeka on Nov 20, 2008 at 01:11 PM
Yes Sam, it's just too bad that the sixth and seventh grades aren't giving up the habit!

Posted by: Susan Location: Massachusetts on Nov 20, 2008 at 11:50 AM
I'm not clear on one point -- the 400 eighth graders who participated, were they all smokers or is that how many of them went to the presentation?

Posted by: bill Location: tucson on Nov 20, 2008 at 10:17 AM
All of us should help our loved ones and friends to avoid the suffering that comes from undiagnosed oral cancer which, if detected and treated early, is one of the simplest cancer types to cure. EVERYONE should ask their dentist for an oral cancer exam, preferably with ViziLite, a 3-minute pain-free technology using an FDA approved light-stick and rinse. Dentists are finding PRE-cancer as well as early-stage cancer using it. And most insurance companies now cover it. Info at ViziLite.com.

Posted by: Sam Location: Virginia on Nov 20, 2008 at 10:12 AM
I'm glad to see the 8th graders arent smoking today.