• May 2024 World No Tobacco Day Newsletter: Head-to-Toe Reasons to Say “No” to Tobacco

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Head-to-Toe Reasons to Say “No” to Tobacco

World No Tobacco Day is 31 May, making May a great time to consider the countless reasons to avoid tobacco in all its forms.

There are no good reasons to use tobacco. Not only does tobacco harm the environment through deforestation, water depletion, and waste production, but also it is responsible for more than 8 million deaths from tobacco-related diseases each year.

Although most people know that using tobacco causes lung cancer and heart disease, many people do not realise tobacco use damages the entire body. For some people—especially young people—the threat of lung disease or a heart attack might not be enough to deter them from using or starting to use tobacco. After all, they think cancer and heart disease only affect “old people”, and the damage to internal organs (such as the heart or lungs) isn’t even visible, making it easier to deny that it is happening.

This is where Health Edco’s creative tobacco education materials can make a big impact in grabbing harder to reach audiences! In addition to lung cancer and heart disease teaching tools, Health Edco has innovative tobacco education resources that raise awareness of other ways tobacco can damage the body—ways that may deter young people from picking up a dangerous nicotine habit.



Read on to discover a few of our engaging tobacco education materials and models that raise awareness of some of tobacco’s head-to-toe, lesser well-known negative health consequences.



Visual Impairment and Oral Health Damage



In an ironic twist, our vision-impairing Smokey Eyes Goggles™ Game Kit can help viewers see the truth about tobacco. The goggles simulate the vision problems caused by macular degeneration, a chronic eye disease that can lead to severe vision loss and legal blindness. Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of macular degeneration, making smokers twice as likely to suffer from the disease. The Smokey Eyes Goggles™ Game Kit features the goggles—representing an advanced form of macular degeneration with severe loss of central vision—along with six stress relievers, four toss balls, a catch bucket, and a comprehensive activity guide. Each of the four activities in the guide drive home the message that smoking can lead to macular degeneration and blindness, making a tobacco-free lifestyle the best decision.
Despite its depictions in ads or movies, smoking isn’t glamorous, and our Smoker’s Foul Mouth™ Display proves that the oral consequences of smoking are unhealthy and most definitely not attractive. Made of soft BIOLIKE™, the display (18 cm x 14 cm x 18 cm) clearly shows the effects that smoking can have on the lips, tongue, teeth, and gums. The lips are wrinkled and feature a cancer on the lower lip. Two tongues depict a condition known as hairy tongue (giving the tongue a dirty, furry appearance and abnormal colouration), leukoplakia (a precancerous condition), and tongue cancer. The teeth are badly decayed and stained, and they have unsightly plaque buildup, while the gums are irritated, bleeding, and receding. Sure to make a lasting impression, the display comes mounted on a base that looks like the lit end of a cigarette and includes a cigarette model that facilitators can use as a pointer during presentations.




Harm to Extremities



We’d all like to have a hand in helping our audiences say “no” to tobacco, and our Smoker’s Hand: The Death Grip of Nicotine™ Model makes that goal even more possible! Disturbingly realistic, the life-size (10 cm x 24 cm x 8 cm) hand model provides an accurate representation of how smoking can affect the hands. Made of lifelike BIOLIKE™, the model authentically depicts tobacco-stained fingers and fingernails, age spots, clubbed fingers, and a slightly bent finger (indicative of the early stages of a progressive condition called Dupuytren’s contracture). An informative, two-sided tent card (22 cm x 25 cm) explains each condition depicted in the model and how smoking can cause it. The hand model also comes with two cigarette models that can be placed between the fingers to provide added realism.
Your audiences may be shocked to learn that smoking can rob them of their vision, destroy their teeth, give them oral cancer, and club and contract their fingers, but how will they react to seeing that it can lead to foot amputation, too? Our Smoked Foot™ Gangrene Model (9 cm x 24 cm x 10 cm) is a harrowing lesson in how smoking can narrow and harden arteries, decreasing blood flow and damaging nerves and other tissues. Gangrene, or tissue decay, can result, leading to severe skin discolouration, numbness, and intense pain. Coming with an informational tent card, our frightening foot model depicts an advanced stage of smoking-induced gangrene of the foot, complete with infected, rotting flesh and a toe already lost to the condition. In severe cases of gangrene, amputation of a toe or the entire foot may become necessary.


More Health Edco Teaching Tools That Say “No” to Tobacco

Every day is a no-tobacco day at Health Edco! If you’re a health educator looking to find ways to persuade your group to say “no” to tobacco and nicotine in all its forms—from smoking and smokeless tobacco to e-cigarettes and vaping—Health Edco has you covered! Discover our full line of innovative tobacco education materials and models in our website’s section dedicated to tobacco education resources.

The information contained in this newsletter is not intended to replace the advice of a healthcare professional.


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