"Look out camels, cowboys and penguins, your days of enticing young kids to take up tobacco are coming to an end."
With these words American Medical Association Trustee, Randolph D. Smoak Jr. M.D. issued a warning to the tobacco industry and three of it's most popular brands, Camel, Marlboro and Kool. Dr. Smoat was speaking in reference to a nationwide campaign developed by the American Medical Association (AMA) to try to recapture "the hearts and minds of America's potential young smokers".
This may prove to be a formidable task. According to a study on brand recognition published in the December 11, 1991 issue in the Journal of the American Medical Association, By the time children reach age six "old Joe (Camel) is as well recognized as Mickey Mouse.
There is a great need to educate our children on the hazards of smoking and nicotine addiction. "Each day our children are replacing the smokers who die prematurely from tobacco related diseases, the number one preventable cause of death in the United States", said Dr. Smoak. "This is a terrible travesty that must end".
The tobacco industry knows that the earlier you become addicted the more likely you will be a user for life. Across the nation the average age for a beginning smoker or spit tobacco user is nine. In addition, the earlier you use the more money you will spend over your life time. That is why former cigarette model, David Gerlach, said his "job description" was to recruit 5000 new children smokers a day.
"People who begin smoking before the age of twenty are more likely to develop oral cancer than those who begin later in life" says Robert E. Marx, D.D.S. reporting in a recent issue of the "Chicago Dental Society Review". Marx, a professor of Oral Surgery at the University of Miami, claims his data shows that the critical factor is not how much you smoke or whether you use filters, but rather how early in life you started smoking. Whether the difference can be attributed to the time factor or younger cells being more prone to the effects of smoking is still being researched. Dr. Marx explains, "What is important is getting young people to understand early smoking is a major culprit of oral cancer".
In addition, kids need to know spit tobacco is not a safe alternative to smoking. Voluminous studies and data unequivocally link tobacco use in any form to oral cancer.
Sean Marsee is a prime example of the devastating effects of thinking spit tobacco is safe. Sean was a star baseball player with a promising future who died of oral cancer at age 19. Before he died he was willing to be photographed and videotaped to show how he looked after having half his tongue and jaw removed and a tracheostomy placed. Sean wanted other kids to see the effects of spit tobacco as the cancer ate his face away.
For all these reasons the AMA sought to develop a way to "thwart the slick tobacco advertising children see on television and billboards". Their answer was to develop their own super hero, "The Extinguisher".
The Extinguisher, teamed with his creator and mentor, Dr. Know, will be appearing in Scholastic News, a current events publication that reaches approximately four million elementary school students across the country. They will also make some surprise visits to certain outlets of the Discovery Zone, an indoor playground for kids.