30.06.2023 – 12:09
German Cancer Aid
Bonn (ots)
Colorful disposable e-cigarettes as a new trend alongside tobacco cigarettes or water pipes – young people in particular are currently experimenting with these products. The nationwide competition “Be Smart – Don’t Start” sets a counterpoint to these temptations. It is aimed at school classes who decide to remain smoke-free for six months and say “no” to cigarettes and the like. The main prize has now been raffled off among the successfully smoke-free classes: the winner is class 8/1 from the Staatliches Dr.-Sulzberger-Gymnasium in Bad Salzungen, Thuringia. She receives 5,000 euros for the class fund from funds from the German Cancer Aid.
Nationwide, a total of 6,020 school classes from all school types took part in “Be Smart – Don’t Start” in the 2022/2023 school year. Of these, over 80 percent (4,982 school classes) remained smoke-free from November 2022 to April 2023.
Tobacco use is the largest preventable cancer risk factor. The German Cancer Aid therefore motivates the population to stop smoking or not to start at all as part of educational campaigns. Almost 127,000 people die every year in Germany as a result of tobacco consumption. “Projects such as ‘Be Smart – Don’t Start’ help to sensitize young people to the health risks of specific target groups. In the long term, this can save lives,” emphasizes Gerd Nettekoven, Chairman of the Board of the German Cancer Aid.
“Since the turn of the millennium, the number of young people who smoke has fallen significantly. However, more young people are currently using tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes again,” emphasizes Professor Dr. Reiner Hanewinkel, head of the Institute for Therapy and Health Research in Kiel, which organizes the competition throughout Germany. “Education remains important! Especially about new products such as disposable vapes. Colorfully designed and with fruity aromas, they represent another nicotine offering on the market. Education about health risks, the potential for addiction and the ecological footprint of these products is urgently needed.”
“I’m very happy for my class that they motivated each other through the great class cohesion throughout the competition and that they also worked through small setbacks well,” says Ulrike Sommer, teacher at the state Dr. Sulzberger High School in Bad Salzungen. “It’s good that there are programs like this that motivate students to give up smoking. If that had existed when I was at school, I might not have smoked before. I’m very proud of my class and I’m happy that we’re starting the can take a class trip to Europapark Rust with the prize money.”
“Be Smart – Don’t Start” is funded by the German Cancer Aid, the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA), the AOK and other public and private institutions and is carried out by the Institute for Therapy and Health Research (IFT-Nord) in Kiel .
Interested parties can obtain further information on “Be Smart – Don’t Start” from IFT-Nord, Harmsstr.2, 24114 Kiel, telephone 04 31/ 5 70 29 70, fax 04 31/ 5 70 29 29, e-mail: besmart@ ift-nord.de, Internet: www.besmart.info.
Background information: The “Be Smart – Don’t Start” competition
“Be Smart – Don’t Start” is a program to prevent smoking in schools. The rules of this competition are simple: At least 90 percent of the students in a class choose to take part in the competition. The participating classes undertake not to smoke for six months. The subject of “smoking/non-smoking” is discussed in class every week. If more than ten percent of the students in a class smoke, that class is eliminated from the competition. The school classes that have been smoke-free for six months take part in a lottery in which cash and material prizes are raffled off. Many participating classes also carry out accompanying creative campaigns on the subject of “non-smoking” and health promotion, for which separate awards are given.
According to a 2014 study by the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, around 11,000 young people smoke less every year by taking part in “Be Smart – Don’t Start”.
Further information on the competition can be found at www.besmart.info.
The “Be Smart – Don’t Start” logo is owned by Transport for London and is a registered trademark.
Press contact:
German Cancer Aid
press office
Buschstr. 32
53113 Bonn
Phone: 02 28/7 29 90-96
E-Mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.krebshilfe.de
Original content from: Deutsche Krebshilfe, transmitted by news aktuell