Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids News
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Honors C.J. Petersen, Atlantic, IA As National Youth Advocate of the Year
-Leadership in Fight Against Tobacco Recognized Nationally-
WASHINGTON, May 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Clinton Joe "C.J." Petersen, 18, of Atlantic, IA has been named the National Youth Advocate of the Year by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids for his leadership in the fight against tobacco. C.J. is being honored at a gala in the nation's capital on May 20 with four regional winners, an international grant winner and a group winner.
C.J. is a senior at Atlantic High School. He founded two chapters of JEL (Just Eliminate Lies), Iowa's youth anti-tobacco movement, has served on JEL's Executive Council and was selected by his peers to represent JEL youth as a voting commissioner for the Iowa Department of Health's Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control. He has participated in numerous advocacy events, from highlighting the dangers of smokeless tobacco at the Iowa State Fair to a protest in which students from seven high schools picketed outside of a tobacco outlet.
More than 400 public health, civic and business leaders will join members of Congress and the Administration at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids twelfth annual gala tonight in Washington, D.C., to recognize these young leaders. The winners will receive educational scholarships and grants to continue their prevention efforts and serve as ambassadors for the Campaign.
"C.J. Petersen and other young leaders from across the nation are making great strides against youth tobacco addiction and their voices are being heard," said Matthew L. Myers, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids president. "Every day, 1,000 kids in the United States become regular smokers and roughly one-third of them will die prematurely from tobacco-caused disease. Almost 90 percent of adult smokers began at or before the age of 18. Youth are powerful allies in the fight to turn these trends around."
In Iowa, over 22 percent of high school students smoke, and 4,700 kids become daily smokers every year. Every year, tobacco use kills 4,500 residents and costs the state over $1 billion in health care bills. Nationally, tobacco use kills more than 400,000 people and costs the nation more than $96 billion in health care costs each year.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is a leader in the fight to reduce tobacco use and its devastating consequences in the United States and around the world. By changing public attitudes and public policies on tobacco, the Campaign strives to prevent kids from smoking, help smokers quit and protect everyone from secondhand smoke.
SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
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