MDI TEENS FIGHT BIG TOBACCO

DATE: 9/10/01

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT: Jeff Nichols, Public Relations, MDI Hospital, 288-5082, ext. 371

A new anti-tobacco ad campaign produced by kids, for kids uses a provocative catch phrase designed to make to teens take notice.

To provoke action, however, the Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine has started MY TURN – Maine Youth Tobacco Use Resistance Network, to take the fight against Big Tobacco to the streets. Statewide, thirty one communities are forming MY TURN groups.

Locally, Emily Radford, a senior at Mount Desert Island High School, and sophomore Lauren Vander Zanden are recruiting other students in the MDI region to form a MY TURN group.

They are working with the support of Healthy Acadia, a regional public health coalition administered by the MDI Community Health Plan.

"I’m interested in it because my grandfather died of complications due to cancer, and I have a younger brother and I don’t want to see him smoking." said Emily.

The goal, said Emily, is to recruit a group of twenty 12-17 year-olds who will function as a "core" group. This group will work year-round on projects that reduce tobacco use among youth.

The duo will be speaking to school groups on MDI, in Trenton and Lamoine, and will also be targeting home-schooled students as well. "We want a wide array of students in this group." Emily explained that she will have handouts available to help students understand the importance of MY TURN.

The core group will be attending a free leadership seminar at Camp Kieve in Nobleboro this fall. Camp Kieve teaches kids in grades K through 12 how to make critical decisions about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, relationships and aspirations.

With their new-found skills, the MY TURN core group will then work together to bring the anti-smoking message to their friends and school mates.

"Kids smoke because of peer-pressure and because ads reinforce it," said Emily. She points out that getting the anti-smoking message out to kids in an area where so many smoke is a challenge. "People have to be open-minded," said Emily.