An effort is on to teach students about the dangers of smoking.
Medical students from UT Health Science Center held sessions Thursday with students from Grahamwood Elementary School.
The program is called “Tar Wars.” The goal is to help kids realize the short-term effects and image-based consequences of tobacco use. including vapor cigarettes and chewing tobacco.
“Smoking is not a good thing because it can damage your lungs, your heart, and it can give you cavities, make your teeth turn black and your teeth can fall out,” says 5th grader Jazelle Harris.
“If we teach the kids, they’ll take these messages home to their parents and maybe their parents will learn about the impacts they might not have known about beforehand,” says UT medical student Adam Hubler.
If smoking continues at the current rate among youth in this country, the Centers for Disease Control predicts about 1 of every 13 Americans ages 17 years or younger alive today will die early of a smoking-related illness.
