Anti-smoking drive targets youngsters

Smoking can be a costly habit.

That was one of the points emphasized during a recent Tar Wars presentation at Bayvale Elementary School.

Dr. Nneka Ekunno told the pupils that people who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day spend, on average, $4 a day, $28 a week, $120 a month and $1,460 a year on their habit.

"There's a lot you can do with that money, but that's about how much smokers generally spend on buying cigarettes," she told the pupils. She asked them what they would spend that money on and their choices ranged from ice cream to a cell phone.

She was one of four second-year residents from the Medical College of Georgia's Family Medicine Center who gave the presentation Oct. 28.

"Tar Wars is a smoking-prevention program," said Dr. Anila Jamal. "The goal is to go to elementary schools and talk to students at that age about the effects of smoking to prevent them from becoming smokers in the future."

Activities during the presentation included running in place while holding their noses and breathing through a straw to get an idea of how smoking affects breathing, and analyzing cigarette advertisements to identify tactics that are used to promote the product.

"We wanted to show them that smoking isn't as glamorous as the ads make it out to be," said Dr. Carmen Echols.

They hope that focusing on some of the short-term effects, such as the monetary cost, will discourage the pupils from smoking.

"If you can prevent the short -term effects, you won't have to worry about the long-term effects," said Dr. Abhijit Singh. "It's really about educating them. The more aware they are of the effects, the less likely they'll grow up to become smokers."

Tar Wars is a national program that began in 1988 and is presented at elementary schools throughout the country.

Reach Nikasha Dicks at (706) 823-3336 or nikasha.dicks@augustachronicle.com.