Join Us Download Friday . Wyoming the USA Comprehensive tobacco prevention programs are saving lives and money. Every state should have one. The tobacco companies now claim they ve changed and no longer market to kids. But studies show that after the 1998 state tobacco settlement, tobacco advertising and marketing actually increased in magazines popular with kids and in convenience stores frequented by kids.
Tobacco use is a pediatric epidemic.
More than 3,000 kids become regular smokers every day. Nearly 90 percent of all smokers begin at or before age 18. Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 people every year. Tobacco causes nearly one out of every three deaths from cancer, one out of every five deaths from heart disease and nearly 90 percent of lung cancer cases. As a result of the 1998 tobacco settlement, every state now has a unique opportunity to protect kids, save lives and reduce the costs we all pay to treat sick smokers.