May 31, 2010 is World No Tobacco Day (WNTD)

Events took place in the month of May as advocates around the world celebrated the 22nd anniversary of “World No Tobacco Day”, sponsored by the World Health Organization.

Each year, WNTD selects a special theme. This year, the 2010 theme is marketing tobacco, especially to genders. Click here to learn more about the 2010 theme from the WNTD website. See below for the area events that have already taken place:

• GASP was interviewed for a Time For Kids magazine article about WNTD. Click here to read the article about WNTD and smoking rates for kids.
• May 18, 2010: Bonnie Marcus, Coordinator of the Burlington County Community Partnerships for a Tobacco-Free New Jersey with Prevention Plus, organized an exhibit table for “World No Tobacco Day” at the Virtua Wellness Event at Shawnee High School in Medford, NJ, featuring “REAL PIG LUNGS” showing the negative effects of tobacco. Other visual props such as the Jar of Tar and the Jar of Phlegm were displayed, and brochures and give-a-ways such as pencils and stickers were handed out. Over 1,700 students, faculty, and Administration Staff participated. Go to the school’s website to see write-ups and photos about the event.
• May 22, 2010: Philip Berlier, Coordinator of Passaic County Community Partnerships for a Tobacco-Free New Jersey, along with coalition members, held the 2nd Annual ‘Walk to be Tobacco-Free’ to bring awareness to World No Tobacco Day. The Walk began at 10AM and ended at the Passaic County Administration Building, with a 1.7 mile route through downtown Paterson. A key message at the event was that tobacco awareness activities, like this Walk to be Tobacco-Free and prevention programming, community trainings and promotion of New Jersey’s Quit Services will end when funding ends on June 30, 2010.

An event in March, sponsored by Campaign for Tobacco-Free kids, is Kick Butts Day, an annual celebration of youth leadership and activism in the fight against tobacco use. Click here to go to their site and read the NJ press release with the events going on around the state as well as the country.

Click here to visit our 2009 WNTD webpage to see some pictures from these events.

Please email your WNTD event held in New Jersey to khaines@njgasp.org, so GASP can post your event on this website. Also, we would like to post any photos you might share of your event.