Celebrate National Kick Butts Day
National Kick Butts Day (KBD) is Wednesday, April 5, 2006. This year KBD will pay special attention to 1200 – the number of Americans who die every day from tobacco and secondhand smoke. KBD has established project 1200 to help people visualize the number 1200 and understand the impact of these tobacco-related deaths.
Tobacco use kills more than 400,000 Americans each year – more than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined. Lung cancer, throat cancer, heart disease, stroke and emphysema are just some of the life-threatening diseases linked with smoking. The habit is also associated with cancers of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, cervix, kidney, stomach and bladder. Smoking also limits the amount of oxygen in the blood, turns teeth and fingernails yellow, makes hair, clothes and breath smell unpleasant and causes premature wrinkling of the skin.
Each day about 4,000 kids (under 18) try smoking for the first time, and another 1,500 kids become new regular, daily smokers. In 2004, 21.7 percent of high school students were current smokers. In addition, almost 90 percent of adults who have ever been regular smokers began smoking by the time they were 19. According to the National Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the tobacco industry spends over $15.5 billion a year, more than $41.5 million a day on advertising and marketing to attract new smokers and keep current smokers smoking.
KBD is an initiative of The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and was launched in September 1995. To participate in KBD, schools and/or school districts can plan events and activities. The KBD website has a pdf document which details all the events that can be held and what schools and organizations can do to participate. Activities that can be organized include: “KBD carnival”, “cigarette butt clean-up”, “be a superstar”, “knock out tobacco ads”, among others. KBD also has merchandise available for purchase including a 1200 adult wristband, a sweatshirt, and a baseball hat.
For additional information, please contact:
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Attn: Kick Butts Day Registration
1400 I Street, NW
Suite 1200
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 296-5469
Source: National Kick Butts Day website.