Testing It Up

The top prize of a national contest sponsored by the U.S. surgeon general’s office was won by a student from the Virginia Commonwealth University.

Ayyaz Amjad of Woodbridge won the grand prize in the 18-25 age group of the “Tobacco – I’m Not Buying It” video contest, for his video about the dangers of smoking, entitled “You Don’t Smoke Cigarettes, Cigarettes Smoke You.” The video provides facts about smoking, and shows an animated robotic cigarette taking people out of a cigarette package, and smoking them.

According to Amjad, it took him two weeks to finish the video, and another two weeks spreading news about online voting for the contest. The 21-year-old kinetic imaging major shared: “I really made the video to reach my friends and the community… There aren’t any health benefits to smoking, mostly consequences. That’s really where I got the idea.”

He shared further that many friends had informed him that the video has made a “huge impact on their lives and makes them think twice about smoking.” Some even professed that they kick the habit completely, mainly because they were not keen about having “a giant robot cigarette smoking them.”

The winners of the video contest were announced by officials late Wednesday. Dantreal Waiters and the Manatee Youth for Christ SOZO team, from Bradenton, Florida, rapped about the dangers of tobacco and why they were not buying it; they won the grand prize in the 13-17 age category. Amjad won for himself $1,000.

The federal government is stepping up efforts against tobacco addiction, by coming up with a series of advertisements that place a spotlight on the adverse health effects of smoking.

Through the campaign, federal health officials hope to further reduce the number of Americans who smoke. This is the first ad campaign, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which will be played across the country. According to Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the CDC, the effort may save both lives as well as money.

In an interview on Wednesday, Dr. Frieden shared: “We estimate that this campaign will help about 50,000 smokers to quit smoking… And that will translate not only into thousands who will not die from smoking but it will pay for itself in a few years in reduced health costs.”

The ads will start appearing on TV, as well as in newspapers, on March 19, and will feature former smokers who will talk about the adverse effects of smoking on their health.

Among them is 51-year-old Terrie of North Carolina. She has a hole in her neck and barely any hair on her head, due to head and neck cancer. She is shown giving viewer tips on how to get ready in the morning – although in her case, it consists of unusual activities: popping in a set of false teeth, putting on a blond wig, and inserting a small speaker into the tracheotomy in her neck. For a final touch, she adds a scarf, hiding the device, and says, “And now you’re ready for the day.” An announcer then says “You can quit. For free help, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW.”

Forty states are still not putting enough effort into helping and getting people to kick their smoking habits, based on a report card from the American Lung Association (ALA), according to a report from Bloomberg Businessweek.

At a press conference held on Wednesday, ALA president Charles D. Connor said: “We all can see that public sentiment is turning against smoking… However, it’s a grave mistake to assume that the shift in public thinking about tobacco means that the public health crisis has ended. It hasn’t.”

Connor shared further that 443,000 people die each year due to illnesses related to the use of tobacco, or due to exposure to secondhand smoke; this fact means that tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death. In addition to the loss of life, tobacco-related illnesses cost the country more than $193 billion in health care and lost productivity annually.

“The tobacco companies, meanwhile, aren’t relenting in their campaigns of deception… The industry found new ways in 2010 to market its products and target kids,” Connor added.

The states of Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia were among those who received all F ratings from the ALA. No state was able to receive straight As, while only the states of Arkansas, Montana, Maine, Oklahoma and Vermont were able to get all passing grades. Among the things that were rated by the ALA was the amount of funding allocated for tobacco control programs.

Danny McGoldrick, vice president for research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said that there should be continued effort among states to raise tobacco taxes, fund smoking cessation programs, and pass smoke-free laws.