RazeWV

By Jennifer WarnerWebMD Medical News July 27, 2005 New research suggests that secondhand smoke exposure during pregnancy may be just as damaging to the unborn baby as the mother herself smoking during pregnancy. Researchers pooled data from recent studies on genetic mutations in babies linked to tobacco- smoke exposure. They found the risk of genetic mutations associated with secondhand-smoke exposure was nearly identical to the risk tied to maternal smoking during pregnancy. "This...  click here for full article>>>

New York, NY - American Lung Association Issues Tobacco Policy Trend Alert Calling for Government Action  New York, NY, July 26, 2005 The tobacco industry is continuing its targeted marketing to teens via candy-flavored cigarettes, according to an American Lung Association Tobacco Policy Trend Alert: From Joe Camel to Kauai Kolada the Marketing of Candy-Flavored Cigarettes. Advertising and promotion for these products uses hip-hop imagery, attractive women, and other imagery to appeal to youth in similar...  click here for full article>>>

Nearly three-quarters of people believe smoking in households with children should be banned, a poll suggests. The survey, by Developing Patient Partnerships, found 72% of respondents, including 65% of smokers, were in favour of a ban. However, it also found many people were unaware of the full negative impact of smoking around children in the home. Doctors say it damages children's health, and increases the likelihood they will become smokers themselves. More than four out of ten (42%) children...  click here for full article>>>

Wheeling - With a smoking ban that went into effect Friday, the Ohio County Health Department now faces the issue of enforcement of the Ohio County Clean Indoor Air Regulation. The regulation took effect Friday evening at 11:30 p.m. after the May 17 approval by the Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health and subsequent court proceedings. Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department Administrator Cindi Shockey pointed out recently that while the regulation went into effect Friday, business owners have a 30-day period in...  click here for full article>>>

Charleston - Raze On 2005 started with a blast - an audio-visual blast, that is. The lights went dark. Suddenly, old tobacco commercials were playing on screens all around the room.  The noise and light level from the commercials built in intensity until, finally, there was a media overload. You would expect this for a new Raze commercial or some high-energy network show, right? But this was the Raze On 2005 opening session! From the very beginning, the energy level in the room was high! Months of frantic...  click here for full article>>>

Charleston - Raze On 2005 made Raze history when the attendees participated in the first-ever elections for the Teen Advisory Council (TAC), selecting four new TAC members from a field of 12 candidates. The new TAC members are: Brian Daugherty:  Brian is from Parkersburg High School.   He has been an active leader in Raze and on his high school football team.  He ran for TAC because he wanted to have a greater role in getting the Raze message out to as many teens as possible. Heather Hart: ...  click here for full article>>>

Raze On 2005 Photo Gallery Click on an image below to get a large picture.    click here for full article>>>

Wheeling - WHEELING - At 11:30 p.m. today, smokers in Ohio County will have to step outside of any restaurants and bars they might be in before they light up, as the Wheeling-Ohio County Clean Indoor Air Regulation will go into effect. Ohio County Circuit Court Judge Ronald Wilson denied the Ohio County Tavern and Restaurant Association motion for a stay to prevent the enactment of the smoking ban. The order from the judge also granted the health board's petition to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the association....  click here for full article>>>

Charleston - A group of Raze teens - members of West Virginia's teen anti-tobacco movement - will tear down the lies of Big Tobacco by building a "Wall of Lies" that exposes the industry's teen marketing and its cover-ups about the harmful effects of tobacco use. The wall will be on display at tonight's West Virginia Power game from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. behind the press box on the Appalachian Power Park concourse. Raze teens will be on hand to answer questions and hand out information regarding the lies of the...  click here for full article>>>

Wheeling - Media War "Not Personal Enough", Say Doctors We hear statistics everyday related to smoking, and second-hand smoke in particular. But a pair of Wheeling doctors say they want to cut through the numbers and get back to what a ban on smoking is really all about. "This is an issue about health and science," says Dr. Mike Blatt, "versus greed and intimidation." The clean indoor air coalition in Ohio County, known as SmokeFree OC, says it's tired of fighting a battle in the media, a war of propaganda filled...  click here for full article>>>

Ontario, Canada - It’s now official. Public places in Ontario will be smoke free by May 31, 2006. The Liberal government passed Bill 164, also known as the Smoke-Free Ontario legislation, last week. While the Ontario Medical Association and many government members endorsed the legislation, it received a less than warm welcome in tobacco country. The bill will: Ban smoking in all enclosed public places and workplaces as of May 31, 2006 Toughen laws on tobacco sales to minors Restrict the display of tobacco products...  click here for full article>>>

Charleston - More than 200 Raze teens from across the state will gather to celebrate their success in fighting Big Tobacco when the fourth annual Raze On kicks off Sunday evening at the University of Charleston. The conference - which lasts until Tuesday - will begin with an opening session at 5 p.m. in the University of Charleston ballroom featuring Yes Duffy of MTV's Road Rules and Samuel Allen, a founding member of "Truth," Florida's teen anti-tobacco movement. Yes is no stranger to West Virginia, having served...  click here for full article>>>

Charleston - West Virginia smokers cost the state between $1.8 billion and $2 billion a year in lost productivity and health care costs, says the latest statewide assessment on smoking. Overall, 27 percent of West Virginia adults smoked in 2003, compared to the national average of 22 percent, said the Department of Health and Human Resources in its updated report "Tobacco Is Killing (and Costing) Us." On average, 11 West Virginians die daily due to smoking-related illnesses. That amounts to 3,842 deaths a year, ...  click here for full article>>>

Four high school students from the New York youth movement Reality Check recently conducted a study to find the proportion of Internet sales vendors that would sell tobacco products to minors. The students first obtained a letter of immunity from the County Attorney to conduct the study.  Then they searched the Internet for sites selling cigarettes, and purchased the cigarettes using a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The students made 33 "illegal" purchases from 18...  click here for full article>>>

Philip Morris is at it again.  The company, whose iconic Marlboro Man helped addict millions of Americans to cigarettes, is in talks with the government of Communist China to sell Marlboros to the 360 million smokers who reside there. Philip Morris and British-American Tobacco (BAT) have been working hard to seal the deal - BAT wanted to build a factory in China, and Philip Morris wants to license a government-owned factory to produce the smokes.  If 360 million Chinese are smoking now,...  click here for full article>>>

Study shows smoking damage can linger for generations A new study by the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles found that the harmful effects of the chemicals in tobacco could pass down through generations for decades. Researchers questioned the parents and guardians of 908 children about their smoking habits.  The survey showed that children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were one-and-a-half times more likely to become asthmatic than those children...  click here for full article>>>

When will we add graphic images like Canada's? Every package of cigarettes sold in this country comes with a warning label from the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General.  The label basically says that smoking is harmful to your health.  How many people notice the label?  How many people actually read it? The governments of countries such as Canada, Thailand and Taiwan have considered the same questions, and they've come up with a solution - putting graphic pictures of the many ailments...  click here for full article>>>

Wheeling - Ohio County smokers can continue lighting up in public businesses for another week after Ohio County Circuit Judge Ronald Wilson again issued a stay for the smoking ban. The county's ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and other establishments was set to go into effect Friday. However, Wheeling attorney Paul Harris said Wilson issued an order late Wednesday delaying the effective date for a week.Harris, who represents the Restaurant and Tavern Owners Association, said group members are circulating...  click here for full article>>>

Raze debuts "4200" bracelets More than 3,000 West Virginians – including some very famous state natives – wore black bracelets with the number “4200” imprinted on them Friday, March 11, as part of Tobacco Free Day at the Capitol in Charleston. The bracelets are being distributed by the Raze teen anti-tobacco movement to community leaders, legislators and famous West Virginians to bring attention to the fact that 4,200 residents die each year from tobacco-related diseases.  Raze teens introduced...  click here for full article>>>

Raze is back on the air with a new commercial that lets everyone know that Raze has been successful in tearing down the lies of Big Tobacco and reducing teen smoking! In 1999, 43 percent of high school students smoked.  Now, thanks to Raze and other efforts like the Not-On-Tobacco program, youth smoking has dropped to 28.5 percent. None of this could happened without each of you – working with your Crew – to fight Big Tobacco everywhere, whenever the tobacco companies showed up to market...  click here for full article>>>

We at Raze have debated and discarded the notion of a 'safer smoke' many times. But now, under New York law, there just may be such a thing as a safer cigarette. But it's not safer if you smoke it. It's only safer if you let it go out on its own in the ashtray. A few months ago, a New York state law mandated that tobacco companies replace every brand of cigarette for sale in the state with new fire-safety smokes. These are cigarettes that go out if left too long in the ashtray...or slip from the hand...  click here for full article>>>

It's a fact: adult smoking rates in the US have declined in recent decades.  Awareness of the dangers of tobacco and secondhand smoke continues to increase, and more public areas are adopting smoke-free policies, which in turn decreases the social acceptability of smoking. Despite these changes in our society, research done by the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group found that tobacco use in films has increased 50 percent since 1998.  This obviously does not mirror today's...  click here for full article>>>

Get the Raze Scholarship Application  here! West Virginia students who help fight tobacco use can be rewarded for their efforts. Raze, a student anti-tobacco organization, will be awarding scholarships to students in each of the eight Regional Educational Service Agencies (RESAs).   A $1,000 Youth Tobacco Prevention Leadership Scholarship will be made available in each RESA to a high school senior who has demonstrated leadership in tobacco prevention. Representatives from the Raze Youth...  click here for full article>>>

Why it's important, how to do it Has your crew ever done a Commotion that didn't get a large crowd? Do you want to attract more attention to your Commotions and get more people involved in the RAZE movement? The answer to those questions for most crews is yes. And how do we get this? Media coverage, my friends, media coverage! If you plan a Commotion and 50 people are there, then 50 people have heard your message. However, if you have television, radio, or newspaper reporters covering the Commotion,...  click here for full article>>>

Friend's emphysema attack highlights dangers It's no secret to anyone involved with Raze that smoking is bad for your health, and we all realize secondhand smoke is harmful for nonsmokers, too.   I didn't realize just how dangerous it was until just before Christmas break when one of my close friends got sick. My friend was in gym class doing his daily laps.  Suddenly he stopped and began to stumble.  He was breathing in and out extremely hard and was disoriented. ...  click here for full article>>>

Most high school students think or talk about college on a daily basis.  One major aspect of preparing for college is taking college entrance exams - the ACT or SAT.  While this seems like a daunting task, the fears and anxieties can be at least partially relieved by being well prepared and doing everything you can to get the best scores possible. Preparing for the exam can begin as far as a month in advance of taking the actual test. The first step is registration. For a first-timer to...  click here for full article>>>