TOBACCO PREVENTION RESOURCES
TUPE (Tobacco Use Prevention Education) is a collaboration with PVUSD and is funded by the California Department of Education. The goal of this program is to reduce youth tobacco use by empowering students in grades 4-12 to make healthful decisions through tobacco-preventative instruction, interventions, and reinforcement activities.
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Most recently we have created the 4 Session Series for in-classroom youth programs or clubs. Through these 4 theory-based and evidence-informed lessons, youth will be equipped to make better and more informed decisions about their health as it relates to tobacco and vaping. This is the perfect opportunity for youth to ask questions, gain insight, and get involved. Contact Sofia.cuentas@pvpsa.org to schedule a series of presentations!
TUPE helps lead the Empower Watsonville program. Empower Watsonville is a youth lead initiative that works to reduce youth substance use by providing peer education, promoting community outreach, advocating in public health informed policy, and building self-efficacy and resiliency in the Pajaro Valley. Learn more about Empower Watsonville on their Facebook page and their Instagram page, or click the button.
10 FACTS ABOUT TOBACCO
10 FACTS ABOUT VAPING
Exposure to secondhand smoke causes an estimated 41,000 deaths each year among adults in the United States.
Vaping is not safer than smoking traditional cigarettes.
People who smoke a pack a day spend about $5000 a year on cigarettes alone.
Pod vapes contain toxins. Some of the toxins found in vapes include heavy metals, diacetyl, ultrafine particles, and chemicals known to cause cancer.
Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world.
Contrary to popular belief, cigarette butts do not filter any toxins out of smoke—they only get stained.
An average cigarette brings 10 milligrams of tar into your lungs each time you smoke.
Nicotine is an addictive drug found in regular tobacco companies.
Flavored vapes are not just harmless water vapor. It is an aerosol that contains many toxic chemicals, in which droplets can be left behind.
All pods contain high levels of nicotine.
A smoker who smokes a pack per day intakes 73,000mg of tar into their lungs each year.
Tobacco produces nicotine as a natural pesticide.
There are over 1,500 flavored products that are known to be attractive to teens.
1 in 5 youth who smoke cigarettes show nicotine dependence symptoms within one month of use.
Vaping is linked to heart and lung diseases.
As of January 2020, there have been 59 vaping-related deaths in 28 states.
There are over 7,000 chemicals in a single cigarette.
Vaping weakens a user's immune system.
80% of smokers started before the age of 18. 70% of all smokers want to quit.
E-cigarettes contain acrolein, which is a herbicide used to kill weeds.
HOW DIRTY IS BIG TOBACCO?
Project SCUM was a plan proposed in 1995 by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) to sell cigarettes to members of the "alternative lifestyle" areas of San Francisco, in particular the large number of gay people in the Castro and homeless people in the Tenderloin. The acronym "SCUM" officially stood for "subculture urban marketing". Perhaps recognizing the offensive nature of its label, the marketing plan was later renamed Project Sourdough.
Continuing the long tradition of designing products that appeal explicitly to new users, tobacco companies have significantly stepped up the introduction and marketing of flavored non-cigarette tobacco products to youth, especially e-cigarettes and cigars. Flavored tobacco products are just as addictive as regular tobacco products. These flavored products are undermining the nation’s overall efforts to reduce youth tobacco use and putting a new generation of kids at risk of nicotine addiction and the serious health harms that result from tobacco use.
In 1999, the United States Department of Justice sued several major tobacco companies for fraudulent and unlawful conduct and reimbursement of tobacco-related medical expenses. The United States vs. Phillip Morris claimed that tobacco companies had engaged in a decades-long conspiracy to mislead the public about the risks of smoking, mislead the public about the danger of secondhand smoke, misrepresent the addictiveness of nicotine, manipulate the nicotine delivery of cigarettes, and target the youth market.
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