2009 TRUTH Contest
4 and 5 -Graders Urged to “Try Advertising”
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The Bear River Health Department invites Cache Valley 4th and 5th
graders to design radio, TV and billboard ads that will convince other
kids to never start using tobacco. The 11th annual Anti-tobacco Advertising
Contest tells students Maybe You Should Try Advertising, targeting young people
and challenging their anti-tobacco advertising savvy.
“Fourth and fifth graders are very effective at dissuading their friends from
smoking,” said Holly Budge, Health Promotion Specialist. “We hope kids will take
the ads they design home with them, show their parents, and open a dialogue
about the dangers of tobacco.”
The tobacco industry spends $60 million in Utah advertising their deadly products
to young people. Tobacco products are offered in shapes and sizes that appeal
to children, cigarettes and smokeless tobacco are flavored to mask the
harshness of the product for new smokers, and nicotine and other chemical
levels are manipulated to make the products even more addictive.
“Big Tobacco is ruthless in its efforts to recruit kids,” said Budge. “They add
candy, fruit and alcohol flavors to chewing tobacco to tempt youth into taking up
the habit.”
Anti-smoking groups claim Big Tobacco is trying to replace the profits that are
lost because 1,200 people die every day from smoking cigarettes. Since the
TRUTH campaign began in 1999, Utah’s youth smoking rate has dropped by 34
percent.
Fourth and fifth grades students may enter the contest by drawing or writing a
billboard, TV or radio ad. Contestants can enter as many times as they want in
any of the categories (radio, billboard, T.V.). For more information on the
categories and for entry forms, please visit www.youthagainsttobacco.com.
To be eligible for the state contest, entries need to be postmarked to the address
on the entry form by March 6th, or you may drop your entry off at the Bear River
Health Department, 655 East 1300 North, Logan. Best in show will win $400 and
the ad will be professionally produced. Additional prizes include $300 for first
place, $200 for second place and $100 for third place in each category. All
contestants will receive a prize for entering. In addition to the state contest, the
Bear River Health Department will be conducting a local contest; these entries
will need to be received by March 2nd. After judging the entries locally, they will all
be sent to the State where they will be eligible for the state contest too. For
further questions contact Jescee at the Bear River Health Department 792-6510.
Energy Drinks
Energy drinks are a relative new concept on the
market. These drinks have not been around long
enough to know the long term prognosis of what
these drinks will do to a user’s health.
The research coming in is not good new for using
these energy drinks. Energy drinks are made up of
caffeine and sugar. From these two substances the
body gets a quick release of Adrenaline giving the user a feeling of a quick boost.
This come from the effect caffeine has on the dopamine production in the brain. It
is essences shuts off the brains ability to sleep or shut down. The sugar adds to
this false feeling of energy. After the effects of the adrenaline and sugar are gone
a crash happens where the user is left with a feeling of being down. The body
needs rest and sleep to maintain the physical, emotional, and psychological
sharpness a person desires.
There are many other ingredients in energy drinks, which the manufactures claim
to be healthful. Some, may even market energy drinks as health drinks. None of
this is regulated by the FDA. Energy drinks also have a chemical guarana which
contains 3-4 percent more caffeine than coffee beans. This gives more of a kick
to energy drinks than just the caffeine because there is more caffeine in each
drink. Non of these chemicals will have the amount listed.
A quick comparison of the caffeine:
1 8 oz. Red Bull = 3 cans of Coke
1 16 oz. Full Throttle = 4 ½ cans of Coke
1 16 oz. Monster = 5 cans of Coke
1 16 oz. Rock Star = 5 cans of Coke
1 16 oz. Wired = 11 cans of Coke
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Energy drinks should be used with caution; there have been cases of
Anecdotal reports of cardiac arrest, hospitalization, and even death.
Health professionals are concerned with the new fad……
“What concerns me most is the notion that we need chemicals to bring us up,
then different ones to bring us back down, then something else to put us right in
between. We loose track of what feeling clean and natural can be like.”
-Pediatrician Dr. Ann L. Engelland
Danger: Inhalant Abuse
Inhalants, particularly volatile solvents, gases, and aerosols, are often among the
first drugs that young children use. One National survey indicates that about 3.0
percent of U.S. children have tried inhalants by the time they reach fourth grade
(www.nida.nih.gov). Inhalant abuse can become chronic and extended into
adulthood. Effects associated with many inhalants can be permanent and even
life threatening.
Data from National and State surveys suggest inhalant abuse reaches its peak at
some point during the 7th-9th grades. In the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, an
annual NIDA-supported survey of the Nation’s secondary school students, 8thgraders also regularly report the highest rate of current, past year, and lifetime
inhalant abuse. Fortunately, 10th-12th graders report less abuse!
Gender differences in inhalant abuse have been identified at different points in
childhood. The 2004 MTF indicates that 10.5 percent of 8th grade females
reported using inhalants in the past year, compared with 8.8 percent of 8th grade
males. Among 12th graders, 3.4 percent of females and 4.8 percent of males
reported using inhalants in the past year. The National Survey on Drug Use and
Health (NSDUH), an annual survey of drug use among the Nation’s noninstitutionalized civilians, reports that similar percentages of 12 to 17 year old
boys and girls abuse inhalants in 2003. However, the percentage of 18-25 year
old males who abused inhalants within the past month was more than twice that
of females in that age group, suggesting that sustained abuse of inhalants is
more common among males.
People who abuse inhalants are found in both urban and rural settings. Research
on factors contributing to inhalant abuse suggests that adverse socioeconomic
conditions, a history of childhood abuse, poor grades, and dropping out of school
all are associated with inhalant use.
Inhalant use and abuse is a growing public health concern in the Bear River
Health District. For more information on this issue, please contact the Bear River
Health Department at 435-792-6510.
Data obtained from www.nida.nih.gov
A Toddler in a Convertible?
When safety advocates talk about convertibles, they are not talking about sleek,
stylish cars with the ability to put their top down. No, they are most likely referring
to a Convertible Car Seat. This type of convertible is simply a car seat that
converts from a rear facing seat to a forward facing seat.
Many parents convert their children to forward facing passengers way too soon.
According to Child Passenger Safety experts, children should remain rear facing
as long as possible. Children are five times safer riding rear facing than forward
facing even after their first birthday. Research has shown that the rear facing
position is more protective than the forward facing in both frontal and side-impact
crashes.
“Many Parents worry about their children’s legs being too long and about them
being injured if their feet touch the back of the vehicle seat,” said Allena Pierce,
Health Educator and Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician at the Bear
River Health Department. “The risk of head and spinal cord injury is higher for
children riding forward facing and far outweighs the concern of leg injuries.”
To learn more about which type of seat provides the best protection for your
child, visit www.boosterseat.gov/4stepsflyer.pdf or contact the Bear River Health
Department to schedule a free check of your child’s seat at 792-6510 (Logan),
734-0845 (Brigham City), or 257-3318 (Tremonton).
CAR SEAT CHECK
Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Time: 9 am to 1 pm
Location: Bear River Health Department
655 East 1300 North, Logan
**Car Seats will be sold on location
To make an appointment, call 792-6510
(Please feel free to post the attached flyer, within your building or
anywhere you feel necessary.)