Smoking Related Diseases
Objective: Students will understand facts related to tobacco use.
Facts: Diseases related to smoking:
§ Research studies have indicated that cigarette smoking is a primary “risk factor” for several major chronic diseases including lung cancer, coronary heart disease, emphysema, and bronchitis.
§ Ninety percent of all cases of lung cancer occur in people who smoke cigarettes.
§ There is no cure for lung cancer and 90-95% of lung cancer victims die within 5 years.
§ Heart disease is the biggest killer in the United States.
§ There is no cure for heart disease and 70% of all heart attack victims die within 5 years of their first heart attack.
§ Research studies have indicated that every cigarette a person smokes takes about 6 minutes off his/her life.
Using above facts, hold class or small group discussion and then follow with activity listed below.
6th grade
Option: Think and share.
Have students share with a partner their personal encounter with a smoker. How did it affect the student? Have students share their stories with the class and discuss.
7th grade
Option: Divide class into groups of 3 or 4. Have them discuss the scenario below and determine the impact that it has on them personally.
“I just asked the teacher if I could be excused to go to the restroom. I wanted to go to my locker to dip some snuff. Nothing is more important to me than going to get a pinch. People will do things they normally wouldn’t do, like lie or steal, because nicotine is in control at this point and they must maintain the habit. I didn’t think I could get addicted so quickly.”
“My friends say the spitting is disgusting and that my breath stinks. I not only have to pay for the tobacco, but also gum and mints to cover up the bad breath. It’s getting pretty expensive.”
8th grade
Option: Divide class into groups of 3 or 4. Have them discuss the scenario below and determine the impact that it has on them personally.
A person who has been smoking since the age of 13:
“I thought I would quit before I became addicted. But I couldn’t stop. Now, twenty years later, I am dying from lung cancer. It’s a form of cancer that can’t be cured. I always knew that smoking could knock off ten years of my life. But, I thought that would happen when I was older, not now. I don’t know how long I’ll live. I weigh only 80 pounds, I don’t even have enough strength to sit up in a chair and have lost all my hair because of the medicine. The doctor told me today that I probably won’t live to see my son graduate from high school. I realize now that my years of smoking not only hurt me, but that my family has suffered too from secondhand smoke.”