Mayfield All-Age cops health trophy

BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth:

MAYFIELD ALL-AGE School lifted one of several trophies presented at the 2011 St Elizabeth Health Department's public awareness campaign against smoking exposition, at the school last week.

The trophy, along with several others, was awarded by the health department at the exposition staged to celebrate World No Tobacco Day under the theme 'I will do what is best for me; I will keep my body tobacco free'.

Presenters looked at the negative health effects from tobacco smoking, and the need for parents and educators to pay close attention to children, to ensure that they do not fall prey to the inducement to smoke.

"We are preparing you from now, (that) when you are offered the opportunity to smoke, say no. If you smoke, you will start to kill your body and, down the road, you will begin to feel the effects," stated Oddeth Brown-Reid, health educator for St Elizabeth.

According to a pamphlet produced by the Ministry of Health, there are more than 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.

"Teenagers are more likely to ignore health consequences, and are more easily to be addicted. They are more vulnerable, so choose to keep your body from tobacco, keep your body tobacco free," Caple Taylor, behaviour-change communications coordinator, told the audience.

- JIS