Surgeon General’s Report—Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults

NLTCN is delighted to share the announcement below from Center for Disease Control’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) marking the release of Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General. We hope that you will help spread the word about this landmark report’s findings in your communities and connect with OSH via the web-based and social media tools listed below.

In order to facilitate local and state distribution of this report, we are attaching supplementary materials courtesy of OSH and the Office of the Surgeon General that you can adapt to reach out to media, elected officials, and other community members:

• A template of a press release explaining the significance of the Report
• An executive summary of the Report
• A fact sheet on tobacco use among youth and young adults
• A list of key messages in the Report

Today, Dr. Regina Benjamin, U.S. Surgeon General, released Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General, which is the 31st Surgeon General’s report on tobacco since 1964. This latest report details important new facts about the epidemic of tobacco use among American youth ages 12 through 17 and young adults ages 18 through 25, including the epidemiology, causes, and health effects of this tobacco use and interventions proven to prevent it.

Links to the full report and supporting materials are provided below.  Please share this e-mail with your tobacco control partners so that they, too, may use these tools and products in their tobacco control and prevention efforts, particularly as they relate to youth and young adults.

Full Report

Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults:  A Report of the Surgeon General
This 900-page scientific report contains the latest science on the health consequences of tobacco use by young people; the epidemiology of tobacco use among youth and young adults; the social, environmental, cognitive, and genetic influences on the use of tobacco by young people; tobacco industry influences; and efforts to prevent tobacco use by youth and young adults.

Executive Summary

Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults:  A Report of the Surgeon General—Executive Summary
This 24-page document summarizes the major content of the 2012 report as well as conclusions from each of the report’s five content chapters.

Consumer Friendly Booklet

Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: We CAN Make the Next Generation Tobacco-Free
This easy-to-read, 20-page booklet presents  the major content of the report in plain language and is designed to help parents, teachers, policy makers, health care professionals, and other concerned adults understand the importance of the report and how they can take a stand to protect young people from the devastating effects of tobacco use.

Public Service Announcement

Destiny
This public service advertisement, which features Dr. Regina Benjamin, U.S. Surgeon General, shows teens describing their futures if they used tobacco and makes it clear that smoking causes immediate damage that leads to health problems, even death.

Highlights

Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults
A one-page overview of key findings from 2012 Surgeon General’s report.

eCard

Smoking Harms Health From the Very First Puff
This e-Card presents an important message from the report about how tobacco use adversely affects health.

Getting Copies

Electronic Copies
To download an electronic copy of the full report, executive summary, or consumer friendly booklet, visit the SGR Web page.

Video Contest

In conjunction with the Surgeon General’s report, CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health has launched a video contest called “Tobacco—I’m Not Buying It.”  This contest invites youth ages 13-17 and young adults ages 18-25 to submit original videos that feature one or more of the key findings from the report.

Submissions will be reviewed for eligibility and then judged on the best use and depiction of key messages, recommendations contained in the report, and other criteria listed in the rules. CDC will award a $1,000 grand prize and three $500 runner-up prizes for each of the following categories (English and Spanish language submissions in both age-based groups) for a total of $10,000 in prizes.

Please share the Surgeon General’s Spotlight Facebook tabon CDC Tobacco Free with your communities and visit Challenge.gov for a complete list of contest rules.

Spreading the Word

OSH has also developed a number of Web-based and social media materials to get the word out about the new Surgeon General’s report and related information. Following are suggestions on how you can further support this communication effort.

Feature Article

We Can Make the Next Generation Tobacco-Free
This article identifies key facts presented in the newly released Surgeon General’s report about preventing tobacco use among youth and young adults.

Button

Smoking Harms Health From the Very First Puff
OSH offers a button that states and partners can upload to their Web sites to help promote the report and its related products and link users to related content on CDC’s Smoking & Tobacco Use Web site. The button is available in three sizes.

GovLoop
Follow OSH on GovLoop. A post on GovLoop announces the significance of these new publications and encourages readers to visit the online feature article. GovLoop is a social networking site for the government community. It currently serves more than 50,000 members, including local, state, and federal government employees and contractors. Academics and students interested in government are also welcome to join.

Mobile Site
Visit CDC/OSH’s mobile site on your smartphone or tablet to access key facts, quit support, and more.