Mississippi State Extension Service and Mississippi Tobacco Free Coalition teamed up last week to educate Newton High School students on the dangers of smoking during Red Ribbon week.
“Red Ribbon week is a national awareness week,” said Jamar Dunn, project director with the Mississippi Tobacco Free Coalition. “It’s always the third week in October. It just brings awareness to the dangers of drugs, alcohol and smoking.”
At a booth set up in the high school cafeteria Wednesday, students were offered information on the health risks of smoking, cell phone pouches and the opportunity to see what smoking can do first hand.
“These are pig lungs,” said Katrina McCalphia, extension agent with Mississippi State Extension Service, gesturing to a display where the two muscles were slowly inflating and deflating. “Pig lungs really represent more of how we get air in our lungs.”
On one side of the display, a pink pig lung rapidly expanded, almost doubling in size. On the other, a mottled black and grey lung struggled to expand and quickly lost air. McCalphia said the display was set up to give students a visual of what smoking does to a person.
“Through the extension service, we extend knowledge and try to change the lives through workshops or educational exhibits such as this,” she said. “So many times, we tell students, ‘don’t smoke. Don’t do drugs,’ but sometimes if we can instill a visual of what the effects are of smoking to your lungs, that will further impact their decision.”
“It’s probably one of the best representations in the world,” Dunn said.
Students were also given the opportunity to touch the display using disposable plastic gloves. Gingerly prodding the organs, Newton high schoolers commented on how the healthy lung even felt better than the “smoker’s” lung.
Although the dangers of smoking are well known, Dunn said schools are facing a new challenge with Juul pods, electronic devices resembling a USB flash drive, that vaporize flavored nicotine cartridges. Popular among high school age students, the replaceable cartridges can contain enough nicotine to equal 20 cigarettes.
“It’s becoming an epidemic,” she said.
The Tobacco Free Coalition is heavily involved in researching the use of Juul pods and other e-cigarettes, Dunn said. Although their research is not yet ready to be distributed to the public, she said her organization is committed to educating students about the dangers of nicotine and helping schools reign in e-cigarette use.
