The vibrant reds of blood vessels and muscles intermingle with a grossly diseased lung. The audience the surgeons want to reach is preteens and teen-agers. Their hope is that graphic photos and discussion will keep young people from starting the smoking habit in the first place. With this Web site, we are essentially trying to put ourselves out of business. John Garrison of the American Lung Association, for instance, says the Internet is changing the way the association does business and promotes its programs to the public.
Teens are a particularly difficult group to impress with grim health warnings.
The scare tactics aren't proven to work, but they do catch kids' attention. But Trastek urges girls to take the smoking message seriously. The issues of peer pressure, addiction and just looking cool sometimes far outweigh any adult-based promotion to stop teens from doing things that are detrimental to their health. The trend of using the Internet as an interactive education tool for anti-smoking advocates is growing. The Internet is our way of reaching out.