This is the worst fiction of all. Smoking is directly linked to the deaths of 125,000 American women every year and is responsible for about 85% of the lung cancer deaths in women. Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in women. And the vast majority of those women started to smoke in their teens.
On average, a person who smokes a pack or more of cigarettes each day lives nearly 15 years less than someone who never smokes.1
If kids continue to start smoking at current rates, more than 5 million of those alive today will ultimately die from tobacco-related illnesses.2
Suggested Interactive Activities:
- Have the girls talk about what death means to them.
- Have the girls ask their family members about relatives and family friends who have died from lung cancer, emphysema, or heart attacks related to smoking.
- Invite a tobacco-related lung cancer survivor to talk to the girls about what it is like to have a terminal illness as a result of smoking.
1 American Cancer Society
2 National Public Policy Roundtable on Cancer, 1999 |
