We have recently taken part in workshop sessions linked to tobacco.  They were very interesting and shocking, but more about the shocks later.  In the first session, we investigated smoking in general; who smokes today, where people smoke and, more importantly, why people smoke. 

To get us going, we met ‘Addicted Andy.’ as he is known to his friends. He is a drawing of a man and we had a class discussion about the effects cigarettes can have on us.  Here are some of the facts which we found out cigarettes:

• are addictive;
• can damage your taste buds;
• damage your lungs; 
• can cause poor circulation
• will make your fingers turn yellow;
• will make your teeth rot and fall out

We were also given different scenarios to investigate.  Some were easier than others.  They made us think not only about the effects smoking can have on our health, but the role that peer pressure can play, especially in children and teenagers, and the need to ‘fit in’ and to ‘be cool’.  

As we are doing Money Week, we investigated the cost of smoking.  We found out that if you were to stop smoking, then, in one year, you could take a family of four on an all-inclusive holiday to the Mediterranean! Or even better, during the October break two adults could go to Mauritius and stay in a 5-star resort!  To calculate this, we took a person who smoked, on average, 20 cigarettes a day.  If a packet of Benson and Hedges Gold costs £10.00 then after 1 year, that person will have smoked 365 days x £10 per packet.  This would equal £3,650.00 which is quite a lot of money.  If they stopped smoking, then after 5 years, they would have saved £18,250.00, the price of a new Nissan Qashqai!

We also met ‘Smoky Sue’.  She’s a doll who likes a cigarette every now and again.  ‘Bad Doll!’  Michelle filled up a test tube with a clean tap water and then Smoky Sue had a cigarette.  At the end of the cigarette, the test tube had changed colour from clear to a yellow colour with some lumps in it.  Using Smoky Sue and the test tube experiment, we applied this to ourselves.  The test tube became our lungs and we became the doll. To our shock and horror, we found out that even after just one cigarette, the process had begun and our lungs become coated with chemicals.  Mr Hunter also showed us pictures of healthy and unhealthy lungs.  One set was a ‘fresh-looking pink’ and the other was a rather ‘crusty black looking’ mess.  Some of us, who volunteered to watch, saw just what damage the equivalent of 60 cigarettes can have on a set of lungs – in this clip we watched smoke being pumped into pig’s lungs and the consequences –  the more you smoke, the  more your lungs become coated with tar and the smaller they become.  If you continue to smoke you can even burn small holes in your lungs! Yuk!

After this ‘shocking’ episode, this led us onto looking at the chemicals in cigarettes.  Did you know there are over 4000-5000 different chemicals in cigarettes ranging from tar to cyanide to formaldehyde (they use that on dead people to make them look good……well, not so dead!)?  In groups, we also researched the many other different chemicals and we were horrified with what we found out! So far, in our two lessons, we’ve learned lots about smoking, the dangers of it and the effects it has on young people.  We were shocked to find out that tobacco companies are targeting children our age to smoke, we were disgusted to see what happens to your lungs when people smoke and, finally, we were flabbergasted to learn that for every cigarette you smoke, your life is shortened by 11 whole minutes.  We never want to smoke, but now it has certainly put us all off smoking.  Here’s our ‘words in a week’ which sums up how we feel after participating in these sessions:

“Interesting” Ellen

“Exciting” Aeryn

“Satisfying” Iola

“Shocking! Gross!” Mr Hunter

“Informed” Ross

“Sad” Logan

“Disgusting!” Milly

“Anxious” Sophie

“Overwhelmed” Sophia

By Aeryn, Summerley & Primary 7