Counter the tobacco industry's influence on Vermont's youth by learning about the harms of flavors and e-cigarettes.
See why others support CounterBalance, then write and share your own reason below.
I am more concerned about flavored tobacco products because tobacco is one of the most harmful items. Tobacco can cause lung cancer which kills many people each year.
They are getting younger people to notice and find appealing.
Flavored tobacco products are more appealing to kids and I believe are being marketed to kids . They are being initiated and tobacco is highly addictive.
Tobacco is harmful no matter the form it is presented and the marketing to children is abhorrent. Kids are so impressionable and vulnerable and they believe that these products really are harmless or less harmful than cigarettes or other smoked or smokeless tobacco products. the bottom line is profits for those already enormous companies. Their practices are unethical. Most adults who smoke learned to do so as kids. It needs to stop.
I am concerned about flavored tobacco because I think it is a VERY selfish tactic that big companies are using just to make money. It is so cruel to be advertising to our youth to smoke to smoke even though these big companies probably know that they kill people.
I am very angry about how companies are making little kids smoke. This is crazy and upsetting. I am concerned that some people I know could die because of these products.
They appeal to younger children, the health issues that will arise later in life because they are ingesting actual chemicals. The need to fit in by engaging in a behavior that is detrimental to their health.
So many kids are attracted to these flavors because they taste good. Kids do not understand the real effects of this.
Too many of my sons friends vaping.
Health concerns and it may lead to other negative behaviors.
There is an enticement to vape because it is glamorized!
The flavors / sweet smells give the false impression that they are not bad for you like tobacco.
Not only am I concerned that tobacco producers are making products that taste good to kids, but they put them in fun packaging to attract children.
I lost my grandfather at a very young age do to a smoking related illnesses and I don't want my teenaged boys, or any youth to be enticed into getting hooked.
Our children have learned that smoking cigarettes is not okay. It's a shame that this wonderful movement might be reversed because of profit and marketing.
I oppose flavored products because of the level of exposure and use by youth.
Flavored tobacco encourages children to use tobacco products. Adults don't usually even like flavored products!
I am concerned about flavored tobacco products because when it tempts children to try it, it may cause an addiction that can create much conflict between friends and family. Not only does tobacco destroy your lungs, but it can also destroy relationships.
Why would anything like this be considered anything else but a target for kids and to get kids interested in smoking?
Everyone I know has these e-cigarettes called Juuls and I'm sure in the long run these are going to hurt everyone.
Flavored tobacco makes people more attracted to it. The fruity flavors may seem to taste good and make people want it more. It targets children and is very bad. It is a trick.
They aren't thought of as much of a threat by young people.
I am against flavoring tobacco products because it makes them more attractive. My mom used to smoke then she got breast cancer so she had to quit. She is starting to get back into it and flavoring the products is not helping our problem.
I just think it's scary that whenever I go to the math hallway bathroom it smells like strawberry cheesecake. Most (if not all) kids I know that use tobacco products, especially e-cigarettes and Juuls, don't know that they are unsafe and harmful.
I honestly feel like these products have changed some of my closest friends. At the beginning of sophomore year no one had done anything related to this and it only took months from the first time some of them Juuled to when they were clearly addicted. The most frustrating part is that many are in denial about this clear addiction they struggle with. P.S. Parents are clueless.
Our kids deserve better than being used by businesses to get them addicted to nicotine.
I have read many articles about the poisons that are in the juice, the nicotine, the brain damage , the lung damage. It is the same thing as drinking a can of drano for plumbing purposes. Our children are at risk.
Leave our kids alone!
Encouraging kids to smoke a vape is so wrong!!! I'm a smoker of 40+ years and it's impossible to quit!
I am concerned because many of my students do not think flavored tobacco or tobacco in general is a concern.
As a concerned parent, I feel all tobacco products and especially flavored/candied tobacco is underhanded and unacceptable.
I know a lot of people who began vaping because of the flavors and I don't want to see the youth of my state being misled into addiction.
Please don't have these products where my grandchildren can see them in the stores
I am super concerned about flavored tobacco products - especially ecigs. It is awful that kids are being marketed to like that.
It encourages students to start smoking.
As a new parent, I do not want my boys to have to grow up surrounded by products that are so bad for their health.
It's causing all kinds of illness and that's killing all kinds of people.
Because I feel these products are marketed to young children who don't understand the health risk of said product.
Grooming teens as tobacco users is wrong.
They encourage kids to try deadly tobacco products.
I'm concerned about flavors that appeal to kids. I'm also concerned about advertising to kids and the kids thinking vaping is cool.
I don't like that kids are getting addicted at a young age!
They are a gateway to addiction and are being marketed to youth.
Tobacco can damage your lungs and over time make it hard to breath.
People are unaware that the effects are of flavored tobacco are the same as smoking or chewing tobacco.
Flavored tobacco products provide an easy pathway to possible lifelong addiction for our kids to tobacco use.
By making flavored tobacco products attractive to young people - they get hooked at an early age, and it is very hard to quit! Oral cancer is a very real concern.
People think vaping is healthier than smoking, so they think it's okay.
The 1 percent makes Billions off of the disease & sales of all carcinogenic products-tobacco; dairy; meat; food additives; RoundUp & other crop additives; ad Infinitum! Please STOP poisoning the people, children, water, animals & planet!
Don't start smoking! A lot of people start from peer pressure. I smoked from a young teen. It was making me sick. A lot of flem most of the time. I was chocking. I tried different ways to stop and nothing worked. I was chocking on my flem. I was scared at that point. Soon after I saw that a hypnotist was going to help people in a local hotel. I didn't think it would work, but it did. I never had another urge to smoke .. Thirty years later still no smoking. I found it to be a god send. One home town man I knew was there that day and sadly he was to late and he died not long after.. He was such a nice man and he was gone way to soon. I hope this helps someone to realize an addiction can be cured. The hard part is to get stared and to get help... It is so worth it.
Our youth are our greatest resource. Why risk their lives when older and future generations need a future with healthy generation?
Smoking causes so many life altering ( mouth cancer ) and life ending casualties ( lung cancer, liver distruction) and is so tragically addictive. I have a son who is a smoker and cannot quit even though his liver count was too high.
It is extremely addictive. It causes cancer and horrible breathing problems. I was a nurse for 44 years. I saw many who couldn’t quit because of the addiction to nicotine.
Another not so subtle way the tobacco industry seeks to make a profit on the backs of our youth at the expense of their and our collective health.
When I quit smoking 44 years ago it was the hardest thing I ever did. We didn't have anything to help stop. It was cold turkey lol. I had to change my whole daily routine. No COFFEE in the morning because that meant having a cigarette on and on but I was determined. Not only health wise the cost of cigarettes today when they were 50cents a pack when I stopped. And the flavored thing Is disgusting. We need to stop it.
As a young foreign exchange student to France, I took up smoking to fit in. After a month or so I realized I could not cycle very far, nor could I climb a flight of stairs without being out of breath. I quit. I became a nurse, and I lost my Mother to lung cancer at an early age. She had been a smoker her entire life. As an RN I have seen the devistation that smoking brings not just on the individual who smokes but on families and children.
We have lost several family members to smoking related cancer and heart issue.
Young folks with breathing problems (asthma, prone to colds, etc) could have serious health issues if using eCigs....they will be hard to treat, and could do life-long damage to lungs....
Because I've seen too many friends and relatives suffer or die from smoking. Did you ever wonder if inhaling all that smoke from Dog's smoking gave Beth throat cancer? My mom smoked my husband smoked, I now have COPD. I NEVER smoked a day in My life. Think ahead . In 20 years do you want to wake up and find your child has heart disease or cancer cause they inhaled your smoke?
I've seen to many use tobacco products, as an alternative to healthier choices to deal with stress, and other behavioral concerns. it's amazing to see young people taking the lead on this, as adults we need to support their actions with funding and resources to meet the needs for alternative reinforcement of desirable behaviors.
It may be cliche, but the youth are our future. Keep in mind also that vaping is not a safe alternative either. Ingesting liquid vapor into the lungs can and in some cases have caused pneumonia, which can be fatal.
To stop 🛑 Cancer and Death
Flavor tobacco, any tobacco will damage your lungs and other parts of your body! Don't smoke or chew!
I think it's ironic that part of the agreement with state and federal government is for "Big Tobacco " to help educate people, particularly our youth as to the dangers of cigarettes, tobacco, the possibilities of addictions (can be physical, mental, emotional or any combination thereof ) as well as the health risks and possibly even death. They pay lip service even as they find new strategies to attack a new and vulnerable generation. This needs to end. In Vermont if not nation wide. We are better than this and our youth are our most valuable asset.
Dont use tobacco products at all cancer loss of lung strength lip cancer gum cancer stained fingers all the expense use your brains due the math c'mon young people dont use send a message to all the tobacco companies in more killing our citizens and it starts now
Its one nasty habit bad for you
I have been smoking tobacco for 51 years and I can't stop. It is a horrible addiction, so kids quit before you become like me.
Way too many kids under the age to smoke are finding ways to bend the rules in order to purchase tobacco products. The advertising is not totally accurate and the tobacco suppliers bend the laws in order to be within the law.
One of every two people who use any form of tobacco will die of a tobacco related disease. I think that anyone who sees evil and does nothing to stop it is as guilty as one who creates the evil.
Because there are too many people with cancer
There is nothing good about smoking. Its bad enough plain and to think about adding flavors to more people addicted is unsure.
By smoking it will effect your lungs and other body parts at a young age, people are unaware of this as well.
My mother died when she was 41 my father when he was 50. They both smoked heavily and had strokes. I have diminished lung capacity because when I was a child parents didn't feel it was that important not to smoke while holding a baby.
It's really bad for you, could damage your body if not could kill you. Don't make you look good makes you smell like a nasty ashtray. I won't lie I use to smoke. In September of this year will be 3 years I have been tobacco free. It's the best thing I could do. Using tobacco deteriorates the body making it hard to breathe and tarnishes your lungs which in turn makes you cough uncontrollably. Since I have quit I have been able to breathe better and I can move and exercise without being out of oxygen or wheezing. If you have babies of kids second hand is even worse for them so if you love them don't even try it. Stay healthy Stay away
It's a habit that can kill, causes to many health problems.
I support protecting our youth because I am a 50 yr. Smoker and if you stop when you're younger, the chances of dying the way I am will be diminished greatly.
It's difficult to watch smoker friends struggle with health issues, especially when they realize their own choices have brought them to the discomfort they are experiencing. Fresh air for ALL to breathe is also lost.
I am opposed to tobacco advertising of any kind. The product is a proven killer
It isn't something they need in their lives
I started smoking when I was 12. Young people are vulnerable to anything they can be convinced is cool or desirable.. It was very hard to quit. It took me 5 years and many tries to make it, that was 36 years ago. I know many recovering addicts who can't quit tobacco. I think it is the hardest addiction to break.
Because I was addicted by child targeting at 15. Full blown COPD at 52
Teens don't realize the ramifications of these products. Those who manufacture them do and should be held accountable. We should be making it blatantly obvious what the risks are and stop hiding behind flavors that are meant to trick the young mind into addiction.
My Grandmother died from COPD caused from having smoked for most of her life, as did my Step - Dad who passed away from lung cancer from smoking.. its time to STOP encouraging kids to take up a potential death sentence!
My husband,father of four,grandfather to 6 is a wonderful man who is end stage copd and is dying because of tobacco .He started smoking when he was 10 Years old.This is something no family should ever have to go through.We are sad beyond words!
Health issues for them and others around them. Asthma, Lung cancer, Mouth cancer, Ear infections for children etc.
All Tobacco products and flavored vapor products are so addictive, expensive and dangerous to everyones health. The numerous flavorings and "Fad" gimmicks are so enticing to our youth. I believe it can lead to lifetime medical concerns and/or complications and definitely lifetime addictions.
Tobacco addiction keeps poor people poor.
Because mouth cancer and lung cancer kills!! As adults/parents we need to make it real! Show our kids what a picture of mouth cancer looks like! They deserve a healthy future and the smoking effects old and young!! Even our pets!!
Tobacco use is addictive, expensive and can lead to lung or gum cancer whether it's flavored or not. It's irresponsible to entice youth with flavored tobacco products.
Big Tobacco is praying on our kids by using flavored tobacco. We would protect them from other types of predators, so how is this any different. Our children are the future do something!
it is very unhealthy
I quit smoking 2014 and I still have trouble breathing. I have COPD stage 2. I am on a inhaler. I have to take breaks going up stairs and up hills. I smoked for a very long time 45 years. That's how addicting cigarettes are. E-cigarette are just as bad, they cause pop corn lungs. I smoke no more. It isn't good for anyone, Adults or CHILDREN.
I was a smoker for many years...my young Grand-daughters asked me if I loved them enough to quit. I did!
I am an ex smoker and the habit is disgusting. Now I smell the smoke and makes me nauseated . The risk of cancer will last you all your life. If you believed life is beautiful and breath it in with all its potential do not screw it up, do not smoke.
Its a nasty habitat and takes so much away from you breathing smelling etc
It’s unhealthy, expensive and advertising should not be trying to attract them to the product! Children have enough bad influences in the world today
it is unhealthy addiction and can cause many cancers
Because it is a very nasty hard to quit habit that will cause death in the sense of cancer!!!!
I support protecting them because I quit and its been a year. I want my kids to be healthy.
Because the youth are our future
So many different chemicals going into their lungs they have organs not even fully developed. It smells, it causes health issues, and it is marketed to our children who should be out enjoying life, not smoking to die. Batteries also blow up and cause serious injury!
My father began smoking at age 13. He smoked all his life. He died at age 51.
We know about the evils of tobacco manufacturers and the health hazards they knowingly surpressed. We know about the addictiveness of nicotine and the poisonousness of the other additives. It is a NO WIN situation for youth. The youth need protection from the powerful pushers whose only agenda is to get rich.
Underage tobacco use won’t go away on its own. In fact, it’s a big problem across our state. The numbers speak for themselves.
of Vermont high school students used an e-cigarette in the past month
vape flavors are available, double the amount used to market to youth and adults between 2014 and 2018
of Vermont high schoolers have tried vaping at least once
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