8: Tobacco Video
Transcript:
Chapter 8 Video
INTERVIEWER: We are here at Valley Middle School to find out just how much these kids know about smoking.
INTERVIEWER: So, I’m just going around the school, asking people how much they know about tobacco. First, I have to ask. Do either of you smoke?
RESPONSE 1: Nope.
RESPONSE 2: No. No way.
INTERVIEWER: Do you know anybody who smokes?
RESPONSE 1: My grandmother used to. Now she carries around an O2 tank everywhere she goes.
INTERVIEWER: So if she smokes now there’s a chance she could just blow up?
RESPONSE 1: You know, I don’t really know. I mean, I told her it was bad for her.
INTERVIEWER: Name three diseases or health problems that are caused or made worse by smoking.
RESPONSE: Uh let’s see. Cancer, heart disease, uh yellow teeth?
INTERVIEWER: Yellow teeth?
RESPONSE: Isn’t that a thing that happens when you smoke?
INTERVIEWER: Absolutely. I’ll give you yellow teeth. We also would have accepted asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, diabetes, arthritis, and ashtray breath.
INTERVIEWER: Can you identify this specimen? (Holds up image of a lung, riddled with disease from smoking.)
RESPONSE 4: Ew, man, what is that! Get it out of my face, it’s disgusting. It's like a tumor or something.
INTERVIEWER: Close. It’s the blackened lung of someone who died from smoking. Want to see it again? (Holds picture up again.)
RESPONSE 4 (still disgusted): No. I’m good, thanks.
INTERVIEWER (looking at photo): It is pretty gross.
INTERVIEWER: True or false? Smoking has led to the deaths of more U.S. citizens than all of the wars we’ve fought in combined.
RESPONSE: True?
INTERVIEWER: Really? Civil war. World War One. World War Two. Vietnam.
RESPONSE: Okay. False.
INTERVIEWER: No. I’m just messing with you. You were right. It’s true. In fact, one out of every five deaths can be attributed to smoking.
RESPONSE: So why do people do it?
INTERVIEWER: That’s a good question.
INTERVIEWER: Why do people start smoking?
RESPONSE 1: You know, I don’t know. They probably see their friends doing it, or their parents, and I guess it seems harmless.
RESPONSE 2: Or maybe they just figure they’ll try it and then quit whenever they want to. They think it will be easy.
RESPONSE 1: They probably do it because they know they’re not supposed to.
RESPONSE 2: Yeah. It’s almost more tempting because it’s dangerous. Maybe it makes them feel older or something.
INTERVIEWER: And what would you say if one of your friends asked if you wanted a cigarette?
RESPONSE 1: I don’t actually have any friends who smoke.
RESPONSE 2: I’d just tell them the truth. That stuff is nasty.
INTERVIEWER: A lot of people are vaping now instead of smoking cigarettes because they think it’s safer. What do you think?
RESPONSE: I don’t know if it’s necessarily safer. I mean, it’s still addictive, right? And those things just look so dumb.
INTERVIEWER: True or false? Vaping is less addictive than smoking real cigarettes?
RESPONSE: That’s true, right? Isn’t that why people do it?
INTERVIEWER: Actually, vaping still provides the body with nicotine, which is the substance that causes addiction. Plus, it can lead to lots of lung problems and even bloody mouth sores.
RESPONSE: Oh. Great. Who doesn’t want bloody mouth sores?
INTERVIEWER: What would you say if someone you knew asked you if you wanted to smoke?
RESPONSE: I’d say what I always say whenever somebody suggests something like that. I tell them my parents would kill me. They don’t mind me using them as an excuse. Besides, they really might kill me.
INTERVIEWER: And one last question (produces the picture again). Do you remember what this was?
RESPONSE: Seriously?