The Topic: Tobacco, Smoking, & Cessation Easier - Tobacco is a tall plant with large, sticky leaves. The tobacco plant is closely related to the tomato and potato and has pink or white flowers. The leaves of tobacco are chopped, dried, and prepared for snuff and chewing or smoking in cigarettes, cigars, or pipes.   Harder - The tall, leafy tobacco plant is an annual that belongs to the solanaceae or nightshade family. There are several varieties of tobacco plant that are grown throughout the temperate regions of the world. One species, Nicotiana tabacum or common tobacco, is native to South America, Mexico, and the West Indies. It is the main source of commercial tobacco that is used to make cigarettes. A healthy plant reaches 4 to 6 feet high (1.2 to 1.8 meters) and has about twenty large leaves, 15 to 18 inches wide (36-56 centimeters) and 24 to 30 inches long (60 to 70 centimeters). One mature plant can yield a million tiny seeds, enough to plant another 100 acres (40 hectares).   Tobacco contains nicotine, an additive substance that acts as a stimulant on the heart and the nervous system. Physicians and scientists believe that nicotine in tobacco contributes to the occurrence of heart attacks and stomach ulcers. Tobacco smoke contains many chemical substances including carbon monoxide, tar and particulate, as well as nicotine. Many of the chemicals found in tobacco products have been linked to the development of several different diseases. Cancer and heart disease rates are twice as high among smokers compared to nonsmokers. Secondhand smoke or passive smoking, the inhalation of another person's smoke, is a known cause of cancer.    Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids from National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids http://tobaccofreekids.org/ Here you can find the latest antismoking news and information, watch a video message, take a quiz, and read special reports like the ABC's of Tobacco, The Insider, and more! Related Websites: 2) Children Opposed to Smoking Tobacco (COST) http://www.costkids.org 3) Go Smokefree! from Health Canada http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/tobacco/index.html 4) Kick Butt http://www.kickbutt.org/index.html 5) Nicotine Free Kids http://www.nicotinefreekids.com/ 6) Smoking: Cutting Through the Hype from The Nemours Foundation's TeensHealth http://kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/tobacco/smoking.html 7) Tobacco Factoids from American Lung Association http://www.lungusa.org/smokefreeclass/tobacco.html 8) Tobacco Free Initiative http://tobacco.who.int/ 9) Up In Smoke! (Surgeon General's Report for Kids about Smoking) http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr4kids/upsmoke.htm   Science, Tobacco, & You from Florida State University http://scienceu.fsu.edu/ Learn how smoking and tobacco use affect your body and the economy. Find ways to help break the habit and much more. Related Website: 2) Brain's Response to Nicotine from National Institute on Drug Abuse-National Institutes of Health's Mind Over Matter Series http://165.112.78.61/MOM/NIC/MOMNIC1.html 3) Cigarettes and Other Nicotine Products from National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofax/tobacco.html 4) Nicotine from National Institute on Drug Abuse http://165.112.78.61/drugpages/nicotine.html 5) Nicotine Junkies: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes from The Why Files http://whyfiles.org/024nicotine/index.html   Smoking: The Smoke Scene from PBS Kids' It's My Life http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/body/smoking/ Get the facts on smoking, find out how to help someone quit, read other kids' comments, and test your tobacco IQ with Bonko's Body Quiz. Related Websites on Tobacco Cessation: 2) Arizona Smokers' Helpline http://www.ashline.org/ 3) How Can I Quit Smoking? from The Nemours Foundation's TeensHealth 4) Stop Smoking Links Online from Wellness International Network, Inc. http://www.wellnessnet.com/stopsmoking-smoke-links.htm#toppage 5) Tobacco Cessation Guideline from Office of the Surgeon General http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/ 6) Try to Stop: Quit Smoking and Make Smoking History from Massachusetts Department of Public Health http://www.trytostop.org/ 7) Quit 4 Life (Q4L) http://quit4life.com/ 8) QuitNet from http://www.quitnet.com/ 9) Quit Now: The National Tobacco Campaign (Australia) http://www.quitnow.info.au/index1.html 10) Quit Smoking UK http://www.quitsmokinguk.com/ 11) Quit Smoking and Chewing Tobacco http://www.quittobacco.com/ 12) Quit Smoking without Willpower or Struggle by M. Whalen from Presmark Publishing Company http://www.presmark.com/home.htm 13) Quitting Tips from American Cancer Society http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/ped_10_3.asp?sitearea=PED   Tobacco Information and Prevention Source (TIPS) from National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/ This website form the CDC information, statistics, and tips aimed at convincing kids to not use tobacco products. Related Websites: 2) Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) http://www.ash.org/ 3) Lung Association of Saskatchewan http://www.sk.lung.ca/content.cfm/kids 4) Tobacco Facts from British Columbia Ministry of Health http://www.tobaccofacts.org/ 5) Tobacco Control from American Lung Association http://209.208.153.222/tobacco/ 6) Smoking and Tobacco from Canadian Lung Association http://www.lung.ca/smoking/ 7) Surgeon General's Report for Kids about Smoking http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr4kids/sgrmenu.htm   After visiting several of the websites, complete one or more of these projects.   How Much Do You Know About Tobacco? Take the Tobacco Quiz from National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and Check Your Smoking I.Q. from Walter Reed Army Medical Center.   Complete An Anti-Tobacco Public Service Announcement. Create a sixty-second radio or television spot that is aimed at convincing people not to smoke. Write a script, fine-tune and edit it so that your message is effective, to-the-point, and is taken seriously. Record your finished message for the media and play it for your classmates and/or family.   Complete A Tobacco History Timeline. Research the history of the tobacco plant and its use. Put together your findings in a timeline that identifies major tobacco events. Add illustrations to your tobacco timeline. Display your completed project.   Complete A Tobacco WebQuest. Follow or adapt the procedures found at one of the following webQuest sites (Note that a couple of these webQuest sites have a few broken links; however, there are plenty of sites on this 42eXplore project to cover the missing information): 2) As a Team, Your Journey Begins! http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/websmokingad.html 3) Dangers of Tobacco Use by M. Fiscus http://infusion.allconet.org/webquest/Persuading_Kids_Not_to_Smoke.html 4) Did Someone Say Tobacco? (Grades 4 - 7) by R. Schlitz http://schools.sd68.bc.ca/PARK/schlitz/projects/tobaccowebquest/stopsmoking.html 5) Real Scoop on Tobacco (Grades 5-9) by G. Nehls http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/sbcss/services/educational/cctechnology/webquest/tobacco.html 6) Should Smoking Be Illegal? (Grade 7) by S. Jolly and S. Lorimer http://web.mala.bc.ca/webquests3/smoking/lesson-template1.htm   Organize And Hold A Kick Butts Day. Kick Butts Day, scheduled for April 2, 2003, is an annual initiative that encourages activism and leadership among elementary, middle and high school students. It's the day America's kids stand up to tobacco, and America's adults stand up for kids. Kick Butts Day rallies and events take place in every state, and several nations, showing that kids are powerful voices in the fight against tobacco. Sign up and learn more about it at Kick Butts Day.   Convince Someone Not To Use Tobacco. Create an antismoking or anti-tobacco poster. Make sure that it captures your audience's attention and conveys a 'stop using' or 'don't begin using' message. Narrow its focus to fit a particular age and/or group of people. Test it out by displaying the finished work.   Websites By Kids For Kids Bad Start: Teenage Smoking (2000 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge) http://library.thinkquest.org/C007413/ The ultimate aim of the site is to deter adolescents from ever picking up the addictive habit of smoking.   Butts & Ashtrays (1997 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge) http://library.thinkquest.org/11917/ Do you know the hazards and detriments of chewing and smoking tobacco? This site carries a convincing anti-tobacco message. Click on the interactive "Body Tour" for a picture of how smoking affects the body from head to toe, and the history of the major tobacco companies is an interesting chronicle of how tobacco use became so widespread.   El Cigarrillo (2000 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge) http://library.thinkquest.org/C006501F/ Here you'll find information about cigarettes and tobacco, the consequences of lung cancer, links to other information, the evolution of the tobacco in society, and more.   How Does Smoking Affect Your Body (1998 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge) http://library.thinkquest.org/19796/ Find out why you should not smoke, and what smoking does to those around you. Learn what tobacco is, what country is its leading producer, and what US states produce tobacco. Read about the history of smoking and learn what happens when you quit. Hint: you get healthier!   If Tobacco Ads Told the Truth (Grades 5-6) from Hillview Elementary, British Columbia http://www.sd22.bc.ca/hillview/ads.htm These students examined cigarette ads and produced parodies of them.   Puff of Smoke (1996 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge) http://library.thinkquest.org/3230/ Discover how smoking and drugs--like the tar and nicotine found in tobacco--affect your body, your friends, even your wallet.   Smoking Kills (1998 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge) http://library.thinkquest.org/17360/ This web site traces the beginnings of tobacco use and discusses the chemical substances in tobacco and their effects on the body. The site also gives statistics on worldwide tobacco usage.   Tobacco is Very Bad. Too bad! http://sun1.maizuru-ct.ac.jp/human/knipprath/public_html/studentssite/2Etobacco/2Etobacco.htm This student project site involved an online survey related to tobacco. Related Project: 2) World Tobacco War III http://sun1.maizuru-ct.ac.jp/human/knipprath/public_html/studentssite/2Mtobacco/2Mtobacco.htm   T-N-T: Teenagers-N-Tobacco (1997 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge) http://library.thinkquest.org/10339/ Thinking about smoking? This site will try to change your mind. Sections include a tobacco time line, techniques to resist (or quit) smoking, diseases linked to smoking, the dangers of secondhand smoke, and more.   More Websites Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights http://www.no-smoke.org/ This national lobbying organization is dedicated to nonsmokers' rights, taking on the tobacco industry at all levels of government to protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke and youth from tobacco addiction.   BAdvertsing Institute by B. Vierthaler http://www.badvertising.org/index.html Here in BADvertising Country, tobacco ads are doctored-up to make them honest.   Brief History of Tobacco from CNN Interactive http://www.cnn.com/US/9705/tobacco/history/ This article provides a brief historical summary for tobacco. Related Websites: 2) Brief History of Tobacco Use and Abuse from Walter Reed Army Medical Center http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/education/tobaccohistory.htm 3) History of Tobacco by V.R. Randall http://academic.udayton.edu/health/syllabi/tobacco/history.htm 4) History of Tobacco Part I (4 parts) by G. Borio from History Net http://www.historian.org/bysubject/tobacco1.htm 5) Tobacco Heritage http://www.tobaccoheritage.com/main2.htm   If You Chew, Quit from the California Dental Association http://www.cda.org/public/cch5fs.html Smokeless tobacco use in the United States continues to increase each year. It may be smokeless, but it isn't harmless. Why should you care? Read this Fact Sheet. Related Website: 2) Don't be a Dip from Texas A&M University http://dontdip.tamu.edu/index1.html 3) National Spit Tobacco Education Program http://www.nstep.org/nstep.shtml 4) Smokeless Tobacco (Links-site) from MEDLINE Plus http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/smokelesstobacco.html 5) Smokeless Tobacco from The Nemours Foundation's TeensHealth http://kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/tobacco/smokeless.html 6) Smokeless Tobacco from National Cancer Institute http://dccps.nci.nih.gov/TCRB/less_default.html 7) Smokeless Tobacco Fact Sheet http://www.costkids.org/tobacco/smokelesstobacco/smokelesstobacco.htm 8) Smokeless Tobacco: Tips on How to Stop from American Academy of Family Physicians http://familydoctor.org/handouts/177.html   John Rolfe from The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities http://www.apva.org/ngex/rolfe.html Learn about this colonial farmer in the Jamestown settlement whose crops of tobacco became the economic basis for the colony.   Research for International Tobacco Control http://www.idrc.ca/tobacco/en/index.html RITC is an international secretariat that funds multidisciplinary tobacco control research projects in developing countries.   Science Behind Tobacco: Farming Tobacco from Liberty Science Center http://www.lsc.org/tobacco/farming/intro_farming.html Learn about the tobacco plant and tobacco farming. Related Websites: 2) Bright Leaves: Tobacco Materials from North Carolina State University's Library Collections http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/archives/exhibits/tobacco/ 3) Pictures of Tobacco Farming from PhotoVault http://www.photovault.com/Link/Food/Agriculture/Tobacco/FATVolume01.html 4) Tobacco Economics Online from University of Kentucky http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/TobaccoEcon/welcome.html   Search for a Safe Cigarette from PBS NOVA Online http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/cigarette/ This companion program to the television program chronicles the tobacco industry's decades long effort to create a "safer" cigarette.   Smoking From All Sides http://smokingsides.com/ This comprehensive links-site includes resources on all perspectives of smoking. It includes information on the history of tobacco.   Tobacco Issues from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company http://www.rjrt.com/TI/tobacco_cover.asp Learn about tobacco from a company that makes and sells cigarettes. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States, manufacturing about one of every four cigarettes sold in the United States. Reynolds Tobacco has been recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For." Related Websites: 2) Philip Morris USA http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/home.asp 3) Tobacco News and Information http://www.tobacco.org/   Tobacco Use in America from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration http://www.samhsa.gov/OAS/NHSDA/tobacco/toc.htm This report was prepared by the Division of Population Surveys, Office of Applied Studies (OAS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and by RTI, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Related Tobacco Research: 2) Does Early Smoking Signal Later Problems? from Rand Health Research Highlights http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB4547/ 3) Nicotine Addiction from National Institute on Drug Abuse http://www.nida.nih.gov/ResearchReports/Nicotine/Nicotine.html   World No Tobacco Day http://www.worldnotobaccoday.com/ First held in 1988 and observed annually on May 31st, WNTD is a global event held to call attention to the impact of tobacco use on public health.   Websites For Teachers Be a Tobacco Adbuster http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/med/class/teamedia/adbust.htm This lesson has students checking out tobacco industry ads and then creating their own "true ads."   Freedom to Smoke (Grades 6-9) from Health Canada http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/med/class/teamedia/freedom.htm Students identify the activities, lifestyles, and role models that define the "independent man" and the "independent woman" in our society. They analyze cigarette ads which associate smoking with images of independence.   Great American Smokeout: Anti-Smoking Activities 'Permeate' the Curriculum from Education World http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson034.shtml The Great American Smokeout is a great time to get out the message: Smoking kills! Included at this lesson planning site are a "pack" of activities to drive home the antismoking message and a "carton" of antismoking Internet sites to visit!   Persuasive Letter about Smoking by B. Mathews and B. Rymarquis http://www.erlanger.k12.ky.us/juggernet/kyportfolio/Mathews--Smoking.html The lesson assignment is to write a persuasive letter to someone you care about who smokes - -maybe a family member or a friend. Use both logical and emotional appeals to make him/her realize how much he/she means to you and why you want him/her to stop smoking.   Smoking: The Truth Unfiltered from PBS http://www.pbs.org/inthemix/educators/unfilt.html Aimed to reach teens who are current smokers as well as discourage those who have not yet started, this program will show young people, in no uncertain terms, that smoking is damaging to their health now – not just years down the road – and that quitting is not only possible, but worth the effort.   Tobacco Lesson Plan (Grade 9) by N. Walters http://walledlake.k12.mi.us/AAL/Tobacco.pdf This lesson aims at having students make informed decisions about tobacco use.   tobacco stink smoke lung chewing tobacco quitting puff passive smoking inhale farming heart disease tobacco industry disability smokeless tobacco stroke emphysema cigar Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms dopamine cigarette tax oral cancer brain pregnancy respiratory tract infection pipe addiction leukoplakia cigarette low birth weight bad breath snuff premature death advertising stimulant additives sedative respiratory system teeth chronic lung disease cancer secondhand smoke nicotine patch substance abuse cessation cigarette butt withdrawal smoking Nicotiana tabacum        Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, 11/02.