e-Cigarette Pros and Cons
CBS Radio Minnesota, April 26, 2013
Patrick Reynolds: "How much safer is the e-cigarette than smoking? It may be like jumping out the 5th floor instead of the 10th. The smoke comes from a mixture of propelyne glycol and water put through an atomizer. It will take years for definitive health studies to come in. The FDA forbids manufacturers from claiming it can help people quit; they know some e-cigarette companies have a goal of getting customers addicted to their nicotine cartridges.
That said, many smokers find a substitute helpful when quitting. If you use the e-cigarette, don't trade one addiction for another; use it only for the first few days of your quit, as one element of a comprehensive cessation program. Within a few days, after your initial withdrawal symptoms subside, destroy it. See our free Quitting Tips at Tobaccofree.org."
NYC Council debates raising tobacco purchase age to 21 CBS National News Radio, April 22, 2013
Patrick Reynolds: "A majority of new smokers, 60%, try their first cigarette by 14, and 90% of smokers get addicted before reaching age 19. Almost no one starts over age 20. The argument that by age 18 we offer the right to vote, get a drivers license or join the military falls flat when we recall how addictive smoking is. Most States don't sell alcohol to anyone over 21... This law is a very good idea, and shows common sense and vision."
Grandson of Tobacco Tycoon Empowers Employees to Quit
April 17, 2013, Canton and Sioux Falls, SD
"Smuggling does exist, but are we going to give up a really great tax over the fact that a few will slip through the cracks?" asks Patrick Reynolds, the grandson of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds, who became an anti-smoking advocate after his father died from emphysema. "It won't be perfect, but it will be better than it is now, and it will prevent a lot of kids from starting smoking."
RJ Reynolds' grandson rallies youth to stay smokefree
Sponsored by Southampton Memorial Hospital, appearances by Reynolds included Southampton High School and Paul D. Camp Community College
Tidewater News, Franklin, VA, November 9, 2012
Arguing the case for tobacco taxes
Editorial by Patrick Reynolds
The Deseret News, Salt Lake City, October 3, 2012 Reprint of editorial in USA TODAY (see below)
In 2009, Virginia and North Carolina, the nation's top two growers of tobacco, passed bans on smoking at bars and restaurants.... "It pleases me greatly to see this avalanche of laws and ballot measures, especially in the South," Patrick Reynolds said. "For a tobacco-producing state to acknowledge that even secondhand smoking can be lethal is a wonderful victory."
Centers for Disease Control launches $54 million
ad campaign with graphic warnings in ads CBS Radio News, March 15th, 2012
New Surgeon General's report on smoking:
1 in 4 teens are regular smokers
KTTV Fox TV Los Angeles, CA, WWL 870 Talk Radio New Orleans, March 9, 2012
Grandson of tobacco giant
pushes kids away from smoking Fox 12 KPTV, The Oregon News
Portland, Oregon, March 6, 2012
Smoking drops in Pittsburgh region,
other heath problems on rise Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 20, 2012
Patrick Reynolds, executive director of Foundation for a Smokefree America, said reductions in the rate of smokers are the result of strong limits placed on smoking in the workplace and other public areas, taxes on tobacco products that increase their cost, and the availability of cessation and education programs.
..."These large graphic warnings do three things," Patrick Reynolds said. "They inform consumers about the risk, they motivate smokers to stop, and they discourage kids and former smokers from starting the habit." Some 43 countries already require graphic warnings on cigarette packages, he pointed out. "It's time the United States did, too."
Great American Smokeout Day AP Broadcast Radio Briefs, CBS Radio Network, CNN Radio
November 17, 2011
Reynolds: "If you've tried to quit smoking before and failed, take comfort in the fact that most smokers fail several times before they stop successfully. Don't get the idea I can't quit. Understand it's part of the normal journey to becoming a non-smoker. Second, get help. Get in a good program like the NCI's 1-800-QUITNOW or..."
Judge blocks FDA mandated graphic images on cigarette packages AP Broadcast, CBS Radio News, Al Jazeera English
November 8, 2011
Newsletter
National Center for Prevention Research and Solutions
November 1, 2011
Cain ad with smoking Chief of Staff raises questions The Hill, Washington, DC, October 25, 2011 New York Daily News, October 30, 2011
A campaign video featuring Herman Cain’s chief of staff smoking a cigarette spread virally Tuesday... “I’m dismayed to see a presidential candidate, in his advertising, depicting smoking,” said Patrick Reynolds, founder of the Foundation for a Smokefree America and a grandson of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds. “Children at home are seeing that on television, and it sets a bad example for kids. It’s irresponsible.”
"Just because someone has already failed once, twice or more doesn't mean they can't be successful the next time. We know that now," says Patrick Reynolds, who in 1989 started the non-profit Foundation for a Smokefree America. "Failed attempts are part of the normal journey toward becoming a non-smoker." Reynolds is the grandson of cigarette company founder R.J Reynolds and a former smoker who's spent more than two decades taking the tobacco companies to task, amassing information about the ill effects of smoking, connecting with the best scientific experts, speaking to audiences worldwide — especially school kids — and sharing much of his accumulated knowledge on his website, TobaccoFree.org.
R.J. Reynolds' grandson speaks at 6 middle schools and health fair against tobacco The Goshen News, The News Sun (front page), NBC WNBU TV, FOX 28 TV (South Bend, IN), Elkhart Truth, La Grange Standard
August 24-27, 2011, Goshen, IN
Seven tobacco companies sue FDA over mandated graphic warning labels on 50% of the front and back of cigarette packs Reuters wire; CBS Radio Network
August 16, 2011
"The FDA's graphic new cigarette warning labels are a major landmark in the fight against tobacco in the US. The labels are required on 50% of the front and back of all cigarette packs starting in September, 2012. The United States joins 43 other countries that already require similar labels..."
World No Tobacco Day 2011 CBS News Radio Network, KNX News Los Angeles, Chinese News, Telemundo - May 31, 2011
Tobacco giants are marketing heavily to a new generation of customers in developing nations. "As they have in the past, they're using tobacco farmers as pawns in a bid to deflect attention away from the health issue," says Patrick Reynolds of Tobaccofree.org. Mr. Reynolds debates the chief executive of the International Tobacco Growers' Association. Their impassioned discussion sheds light on international tobacco issues, cigarette company tactics and the main points of the UN's global treaty on tobacco.
"This is going to stop kids from starting to smoke ... and it's going to give smokers a strong incentive to quit smoking," said Patrick Reynolds, grandson of R.J. Reynolds and executive director of the Foundation for a Smokefree America. Reynolds' father, brother and other relatives died from smoking-related illnesses.
Before a packed auditorium Reynolds spoke of the loss of his father and brother to tobacco-related illnesses, which led him on a worldwide mission to fight the empire his family built... Smoking is a relevant topic when talking about heart health. For instance, Saint Francis Hospital, known for its cardiac care, sees more than 36,000 patients per year in its emergency department, said Margo Schafer, hospital director of public relations.
Patrick Reynolds: “People relapse as a result of stress...The stress can be positive, such as being out with friends and being overwhelmed by an urge to smoke; or negative, as with the stress induced by work and pressure..."
The junior high auditorium is filled to capacity, yet the crowd is hushed. Students sit at rapt attention, uncharacteristically still. Tears glisten on their youthful cheeks, and even the tough guys listen quietly. On the stage, a few minutes earlier, Patrick Reynolds opened his talk with a promise, “Today, we’re going to get in touch with our feelings...."
CNN Wire: Patrick Reynolds, whose grandfather founded the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., said the passage of the bill "marks the diminished clout of the tobacco lobby on the Hill." See Reynolds' press statement.
Cigarette Makers Lose Appeal in Landmark Case
Federal government's suit will be appealed to Supreme Court CNN Radio Network May 22, 2009
RJ Reynolds' grandson helps launch
Greek Health Ministry's Anti-Smoking Campaign
Athens, Greece, April 28, 2009 - May 2, 2009
KATHAMERINI wire service: The speech by Patrick Reynolds caused a sensation at the conference. He has been involved in an anti-smoking campaign in the US for decades.
Da Nea (The News): ...Besides what he has done in the US, Patrick Reynolds is now starting an international campaign. He hopes his visit to Greece will open doors to go to China, Russia, Turkey, the Middle East, and other countries where smoking rates are high.
61 Cent US Federal Tobacco Tax Starts Today
Associated Press Broadcast Radio,
CBS Radio Network, National Public Radio, Times Daily
April 1, 2009
Patrick Reynolds: "The Federal 61 cent tobacco tax is a win-win-win. First, it will significantly reduce teen smoking and give smokers a strong financial incentive to quit. Second, the new tax will bring in revenue to provide health insurance for 4 million uninsured children. Third, it’s a win for politicians of all parties who voted for it, as tobacco taxes are overwhelmingly popular with voters across party lines. More than 80% of Americans are now non-smokers, but we are all paying for the health care costs of smoking.”
“If you call a friend a fool for smoking, you lose them. They tune out. On the other hand, if you approach them in a warm, friendly manner and tell what you’re feeling, your friend or loved one will open and really hear what what you have to say.
Reynolds urged students throughout his presentations to speak from their inner core of feelings. “You will connect, if you talk from the heart. When you talk from your heart, you are a powerful communicator,’’ he said...
Smoking Banned from NC Schools Voice of America, China, Mandarin language
August 20, 2008
The
Bloomberg and Gates Foundations jointly give $500 million to fight smoking in poorer nations. Guest Patrick Reynolds applauds the focus on nations where smoking rates are highest, and talks about his plans to tour in China, India, Russia, and the Middle East.
...He later produced an evocative television ad in which Patrick Reynolds, a grandson of the tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds, named the members of his family who had died of cancer, emphysema and heart disease.
Ending the Epidemic
Moderator: NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman
Smoking cessation summit, June 16, 2008
Commonwealth Club, San Francisco San Francisco Chronicle, Workit.com, MBC TV (So Korea)
"To date, 24 states have already passed laws banning smoking from all bars and restaurants statewide, and 22 of them did so in the last six years," said Patrick Reynolds, president of The Foundation for a Smokefree America, a nonprofit group founded in 1989. "We are at the tipping point now."
"If I could give you one message today, it would be that cigarettes are addicting. Once you start, it's almost impossible to stop," said Reynolds.
"The best thing we can possibly do is try to prevent kids from starting," said Samaritan Hospital CEO Danny Boggs at a meet and greet after Reynolds' presentation.
During his speech, Reynolds gave students what he called "an initiation into adulthood." He told them life is difficult... But Reynolds urged students to deal with the pain, not avoid it.
"Don't run off to drugs or alcohol or cigarettes..." said Reynolds.
He said to stay with the pain and talk to someone about it, because those who are isolated carry the weight of their pain. "Together, we will solve all the problems life throws at us," Reynolds said.
When asked, many students said their parents smoke. Reynolds invited two students to the front of the auditorium to role play a conversation.
Feelings accounted for the bulk of Reynolds' talk. He asked students how they feel, knowing tobacco companies target kids, to which one boy yelled, "I don't like it!"
He showed pictures of what tobacco ads would look like if they told the truth. One showed Joe Camel reinvented as Joe Chemo, laying in a hospital bed.
...Patrick Reynolds was sponsored by the Bellevue Hospital, Fisher -Titus Medical Center, and Mercy-Willard Hospital Foundation. He was touring area schools and was slated to speak to about 2,000 youths in Huron and Sandusky Counties within two days....
Patrick Reynolds...endorsed SCHIP and contended that the additional tobacco taxes could potentially save billions of dollars in healthcare costs every year by discouraging smoking....
I got to know Patrick Reynolds during the smoking ban campaign here in Ohio last year. He wrote a Saturday Essay for The Blade, he appeared on The Editors television program, and he traveled Ohio as a truth-teller in the face of the tobacco industry's lavishly funded campaign of misinformation. Fortunately, Ohioans knew whom to believe....
Smoking Ban Hits Home in Calabasas CNBC,October 3, 2007
CNBC's Erin Burnett hosts Patrick Reynolds, The Foundation for Smoke Free America, Executive Director and Jacob Sullum, Reason Magazine Senior Editor.
Patrick Reynolds was one of the speakers urging the Beverly Hills City Council to ban smoking in outdoor dining areas. Reynolds told the Council, "Calabasis and six other California cities, and the entire state of Washington have done this. Every beach in Southern California has banned smoking except one, Redondo; this will protect the health of kids on crowded summer holidays. Twenty states have now banned smoking from all their restaurants and bars indoors -- eighteen of them in the past four years. We're at the tipping point now. Eliminating second hand smoke is a reasonable idea whose time has come."
“There’s a clear link between the percentage of characters who smoke in films and the rate of youth smoking,” Patrick Reynolds... Reynolds said he applauded the idea of a mandatory R rating, but he said it was probably more practical to seek voluntary restraint from filmmakers, along with the screening of anti-smoking ads before movies and regulatory oversight to ensure that tobacco companies don’t pay production companies to put tobacco branding in their pictures.
Patrick Reynolds, the Executive Director of Tobaccofree.org, and Dr. Norman H. Edelman, Chief Medical officer of the American Lung Association, give OK! some scary statistics about the habit...
Smoking in cars with children present MSNBC, Two Debates, January 19, 2007 CNBC Power Lunch, Debate, January 22, 2007
Fox News Channel, Weekend Live, Debate, January 28, 2007
Proposals for smoking bans in cars with kids are cropping up around the country, with Patrick Reynolds, Foundation For A SmokeFree America Executive Director; Gary Nolan, The Smoker's Club Spokesman and CNBC's Sue Herera.
Patrick Reynolds said, "At 18 cents, Mississippi's cigarette tax is 49th lowest among the states; it has not been raised for 21 years. Yet since 2002, 42 states have raised their tobacco tax. The average cigarette tax went from 43 cents in 2002 to 94 cents by the end of 2006 -- more than double in the past four years. Why? Higher tobacco taxes prevent kids from starting, give smokers strong incentive to quit, and provide states with additional revenues which help balance state budgets. They also pay for health care and tobacco prevention programs. Best of all for lawmakers, higher tobacco taxes are overwhelmingly popular with voters across party lines."
Smokefree Communities Forum To Take
St. Cloud, MN Smokefree
St. Cloud, MN, November 30, 2006
At the end of his presentation to a community forum attended by 400, Reynolds asked who would stand up as a symbol of their pledge to call their representative on the City Council and deliver their feelings. Over 300 in the room got up. He told them, "Whether by State Legislature or ballot initiative, sixteen states have now passed laws providing for 100% smokefree bars and restaurants statewide -- 14 of them in the past 4 years, and six in 2006," said Reynolds. "We're at the tipping point. This is an idea whose time has come."
Tobacco Took My Dad Away
Empire Tribune,
Stephenville, TX, November 13, 2006
Student assembly programs at
Granbury and Stephenville High Schools
Why California's $2.60 cigarette tax was defeated Why Big Tobacco spent $75 million
in CA
to defeat Proposition 86
KABC Talk Radio, Host: Al Mantell
Los Angeles, CA, November 10, 2006
8:am - 8:30am (Drive time in LA)
Missouri ballot measure would raise
the tobacco tax from 17 to 97 cents
KMOX Talk Radio, St. Louis, MO
October 31 - November 1, 2006
Competing Ohio Ballot Measures Issue 5: 100%
Smokefree Restaurants & Bars
Issue 4: R.J. Reynolds' measure to permit smoking
5 city press tour for Smokefree Ohio: List of print coverage List of TV coverage
Missouri Ballot Measure | Cigarette tax hike
Press conference in Kansas City, MO, Ocotber 17, 2006 Fox Channel 4 WDAF, ABC Channel 9 KMBC, St. Louis Post Dispatch, The Kansas City Star, NBC Channel 41 KSHB, CBS Channel 5 KCTV, Kansas City Business Journal, KMBZ FM, KMBZ FM, KTRS FM
California ballot measure Proposition 86 would hike the
cigarette tax $2.60 per pack; smoking in movies
KABC Los Angeles, Host: Doug MacIntyre
October 12, 2006, 8am - 9am (Drive time in LA)
“Oregon is ranked the 35th state in funding tobacco
prevention programs,” Reynolds said, “even as the state collects
$307.5 million a year in revenues from tobacco.”
National anti-tobacco advocates [argue] that outlawing [teen] smoking altogether could create a bigger problem.
"It almost makes tobacco look more forbidden and therefore attractive to teens and a new way to rebel and to assert their personalities," said Patrick Reynolds, spokesman for Smokefree America & Tobaccofree.org, based in Los Angeles.
...A better solution, Glantz and Reynolds said, would be counter-marketing tobacco companies, increasing cigarette taxes or imposing smoke-free laws limiting indoor smoking in all public areas. Studies have shown that smoke-free laws cut down on teen smoking as well as secondhand smoke, Glantz said.
Tobacco heir snuffs myths The
Star Ledger and NJ.com, Somerville, NJ, April 27, 2006 WMBC
TV News, seen in NYC, NJ, and PA
SOMERVILLE
-- Many people try to persuade young people not to smoke,
but few can be as riveting as the grandson of tobacco
tycoon R.J. Reynolds.
Speaking
to freshmen and sophomores at Watchung Hills Regional
High School, tobacco scion Patrick Reynolds accused companies
like the one his father and grandfather steered of shamelessly
courting the youngest of potential buyers as "new
recruits."
Reynolds
relentlessly picked apart glossy cigarette ad campaigns,
seeking to de-mythologize the youthful aura of cool implied
by the signature brands his grandfather founded.
In
a stinging reproach of campaigns by Camel and Kool cigarettes,
both made by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Reynolds called
new "candy-flavored" cigarettes, from "Mardi
Gras Berry Blast" to "Winter Mocha Mint," a "very
insidious appeal to our teens."
"The
tobacco companies have targeted you," Reynolds told
students, flashing pictures of Kool cigarette boxes with
pictures of rap stars printed on them. "This is
evil. This is totally going over to the dark side," he
said.
Students
gasped in shock when Reynolds showed them another campaign
offering a free radio with two packs of Kools....
...Reynolds
started the Foundation for a Smokefree America and frequently
delivers his message to groups across the country. He
cited a recently released report by the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids that showed Illinois ranked 34th among
states in spending on smoking prevention programs.
Illinois
spends only 17 percent of the annual expenditure recommended
by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
said the report from the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy
group.
Laws
restricting smoking have been enacted in more than 2,000
municipalities across the country, Reynolds said, and
400 communities require 100 percent smoke-free workplaces.
In addition, 14 states have laws requiring nearly 100
percent smoke-free protection.
"I
believe we're reaching a tipping point nationally with
100 percent [Statewide] smoking bans," Reynolds
said. "But Illinois is behind. There is a need for
Illinois to get up to speed on that."
...While
executives of the tobacco giant say the timing of all this
is coincidental to Chicago's smoking ban, R.J. Reynolds’ anti-smoking
grandson says he doubts that. "It
really is an in-your-face effort to say 'Hey, here is a
bar where we found a loophole where you can still smoke.'
It is a rebellion on the part of R.J. Reynolds,” says Patrick
Reynolds.
MONTEVIDEO,
Uruguay (AP) -- Patrick Reynolds, founder of the U.S.-based
Foundation for a Smokefree America, praised Uruguay for
joining other Latin American nations that have moved to
curb smoking. "There is no safe level of secondhand
smoke," Reynolds said. "It causes lung cancer
and heart disease, and they're involuntary smokers."
Patrick
Reynolds envisions a world free of tobacco smoke -- a world
where parents won't die prematurely from that smoke, where
teenagers will no longer be targeted by the tobacco advertising
industry, a world where people live a happy, healthy, smoke-free
life...
He Should Know
The Daily Times, Farmington, NM, January 18, 2006
Statewide ABC TV (KQAT) and Statewide NBC (KOB-TV) also ran stories
The
grandson of the founder of the giant R J Reynolds Tobacco
Company was in Ohio today, speaking out against smoking and
cigarette companies. He long ago sold off his valuable RJR
stock, and says he supports an issue that might appear on
next November's ballot in Ohio that would ban smoking in
public places.
The
American Cancer Society will mark its 29th annual Great American
Smokeout by recognizing the growing number of smoke-free
communities nationwide...smoke-free
advocate Patrick Reynolds, grandson of tobacco magnate R.J.
Reynolds, will speak in Chattanooga and Cleveland on Tuesday,
Nov. 22....
Reynolds: "It's
about time you didn't have to walk out of a building through
a cloud of second hand smoke that's got poison in it. This
is an idea whose time has come."
Patrick
Reynolds, grandson of tobacco company magnate RJ Reynolds...
is coming to Chattanooga. Reynolds will meet with youth,
their parents and the community during an annual event
sponsored by Students Taking a Right Stand (STARS)....
Host: "Do
you think that eradicating smoking is so important that
you will invite an employer into an employee's private
life?" Patrick Reynolds: "Employers have to pay
more for smoker's health insurance. A lot of companies
today — CNN is one (smiles) — won't
hire new employees who smoke. This happens in States without
laws protecting smokers. Just as the tobacco companies
were held accountable for lying for years about the dangers
of smoking and targeting children in their ads, smokers,
too, should be accountable — and I believe you would
agree with that." Host: "Fair enough, but..."
...Reynolds
said the most important thing to do to quit smoking was
to get involved in a program. He said 95 percent of people
who try to quit outside of a program fail, the same statistic
for those trying to quit heroin without a program....
Patrick
Reynolds, a nationally known anti-tobacco activist and grandson
of tobacco company founder R.J. Reynolds, was the featured
speaker for the 23rd annual Humanity in Medicine Week at
Reid Hospital & Health Care Services.
Reynolds
gave a speech Tuesday night at Reid Hospital and another
early Wednesday morning, before coming to Test Middle School
and Dennis Middle School. Reynolds also spoke at Reid's monthly
Women on Wednesday's program.
At the schools, he closed the hour-long lecture with a story about a
teenager who died at age 19 because of cancer related to smokeless tobacco.
Pictures
showed the boy as a healthy high school track star at
age 17. Two years later, after surgery to remove cancer
from most of his tongue and part of his neck, he died. Wilson
said the imagery was shocking.
"Peter
Jennings gave us a real gift in being one of the more outspoken
news media on the tobacco industry. And God bless him for
that," said Reynolds, who runs the nonprofit organization
Smokefree America. But, he notes, schools often don't do
enough to get the message across. And ads by tobacco companies
grab kids' attention more effectively....
Despite
the cigar-smokers-don't-inhale argument, there's no safe
level of second-hand smoke, according to Patrick Reynolds,
president of Los Angeles-based Foundation for a Smoke Free
America and grandson of R.J. Reynolds, the tobacco company
founder.
Second-hand
smoke can cause lung cancer or heart disease, Reynolds
said.
Cigar
smokers may also be exposed to a slew of other cancers
including mouth cancer, throat cancer and cancer of the
gums.
Cigars
don't carry the same health warnings as cigarettes and
chewing tobacco, but can have more nicotine and tar, and
can produce 30 times more carbon monoxide, Reynolds said.
"Nicotine
in cigars is just as addictive, whether you get it from
cigarettes or cigars," Reynolds said.
Smoke
Free America is a nonprofit group that encourages tobacco-free
youth and tobacco prevention. Its Web site is www.anti-smoking.org.
...His
appearance at Wheaton North and Wheaton Warrenville South
high schools is sponsored by Central DuPage Hospital and
the DuPage Coalition Against Tobacco. Other sponsors include
the DuPage County Health Department, the Cancer Institute
of Alexian Brothers Hospital Network, the American Cancer
Society and Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare... Reynolds also
appeared at several DuPage County high schools, speaking
to about 3,200 young people...
...Then he had one WWS student bring a friend out of the audience,
someone she said she would like to see stop smoking. He showed the
students how to begin with a compliment, so as to open the lines of
communication, and use feeling words such as "sad" and "afraid."
Reynolds ended his presentation with a story that made many of the
students gasp. He told the story of an Oklahoma high school track star
named Sean Marsee, who began using chewing tobacco at age 12, and tried
to quit but continually failed.
The whole time Reynolds told Sean's story — how he developed
tongue cancer and had to have his tongue amputated; how his cancer
came back and he had to have part of his jaw and nose removed; and
how he had to have a hole cut in his neck and a breathing tube inserted — he
showed a school portrait of the handsome, young athlete.
He ended the discussion with a photo of Sean Marsee before his death
at the age of 19, looking very different from the first photo, attached
to machines and breathing apparatuses, and clinging to life....
"I'm grossed out right now, cause I play sports," WWS freshman Kyle
Cassin said at the conclusion of the program. "It just freaks me out. It's
like, 'No way.'"
WWS freshman Jay Dragon said he would never smoke, adding his mom used
to smoke, but she quit.
...The
grandson of R.J. Reynolds will appear at numerous DuPage
County high schools this week in an effort to discourage
teens from smoking. On Wednesday night, as part of National
Kick Butts Day, he’ll head a panel of speakers during
a dinner at the Lisle Hilton. Events sponsors include the
DuPage County Health Department and Central DuPage Hospital.
Reynolds
father, R.J. Jr., died in 1964... He later watched other
family members, including his brother R.J. Reynolds III,
succumb to cigarette-related illnesses. Those losses led
to his desire to speak out against tobacco use, starting
with testimony before Congress in 1986 supporting banning
cigarette advertisements.
“Sometimes,
the greatest callings in life come out of the deepest wounds,” Reynolds
said....
Patrick
Reynolds of TobaccoFree.org points out, "The rights
of nonsmokers who may be standing nearby supersede the
rights of smokers." Reynolds is the grandson of tobacco
man R.J. Reynolds, and he became an anti-smoking advocate
after watching his father die of emphysema.
"Why should a nonsmoker have to breath -– involuntarily -- poisonous
air?" Reynolds asks. A tolerant public turned against smokers when numerous
studies linked secondhand smoke to disease. According to the American Cancer
Society, over 60,000 deaths each year are caused by secondhand smoke. (Click
here for a complete transcript.)
"This
is an idea whose time has come," Reynolds said. "This
is the way of the future, and some people just don't want
to change."
Reynolds,
who lost his father and brother to smoking-related illness,
said many businesses are unnecessarily wary of the financial
impact of smoking bans because organizations backed by
tobacco companies spread fear.
"This
harks back to the restaurant associations who became the
pawns of big tobacco and were often financed by big tobacco," Reynolds
said. "They fanned the fires of fear among the business
owners."
The Smoking Gun The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia, Oct 3, 2004
The
grandson of the founder of RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Patrick
Reynolds, who is now president of the Foundation for a
Smokefree America, last week told USA Today newspaper that
companies like his grandfather's had for years "claimed
publicly that cigarettes never cause disease, and now they
should pay the price".
"For
years, [they] claimed publicly that cigarettes never cause
disease, and now they should pay the price," said
Patrick Reynolds, president of the California-based Foundation
for a Smokefree America and grandson of the founder of
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco.
Leading
anti-smoking activist Patrick Reynolds, a grandson of tobacco
company founder R.J. Reynolds, said the bans are the result
of "an idea whose time has come" – no matter
what the industry says.
"The
tobacco companies always try to portray us as fanatics
or zealots," he said. "But the truth is these
are reasonable laws, intended in this case to prevent litter
and protect non-smokers."
TV
Anchor: "Some people say tobacco companies are deliberately
targeting teens with so called tasty cigarettes. Camel
cigarettes has new flavors like Kauai Kolada and Twista
Lime. Some anti-smoking groups say the candy-flavored smokes
target kids. The Kool brand also has a line of flavored
cigarettes. Tobaccofree advocate Patrick Reynolds had some
thoughts.
Patrick
Reynolds: "Sixty percent of US smokers start smoking
by age 14, and eighty to ninety percent become addicted
before reaching age 19. If the tobacco industry doesn't
get them as customers by age 19, it's unlikely they will
get them as customers. Once addicted, a teen can be expected
to spend $1200 per year or more on cigarettes, and will
remain a customer for an average 17 years."
KOOL
Campaign Targeting Youth?
Fox News Channel, Fox News Hour, June 19, 2004
Patrick
Reynolds: "Brown and Williamson's ad campaign for
KOOL puts rappers, hip hop artists, DJ's and dancers on
the cover of the KOOL pack and in print ads. Attorneys
General in several States have issued cease and desist
orders for targeting youth. The tobacco industry knows
that most smokers get hooked by 19, and Whatever brand
a teen first gets hooked on tends to be the brand they
stay with. We need to reinterpret the 1st Amendment, and
join the nations who have ratified the World Health Organization's
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which will further
limit tobacco advertising. It's time to start listening
less to the song of money, and more to the song of community
and life."
...Reynolds
also believes diminished expectations and heightened
anxiety among today’s teens, documented in new
research, is a significant factor [in teen smoking]. "Since
the (Sept. 11, 2001) attack and the invasions of Iraq
and Afghanistan, many of our youth are more worried about
the years ahead," said Reynolds. "It is documented
that following 9-11, there was a significant upsurge
in smoking among New York teens. "Believing
they face a bleak future, many teens may be prone to
engage in high risk behaviors before an uncertain tomorrow
arrives," he added.
...Students
like Craft and Shekowski were both moved Wednesday by Reynolds'
story of Sean Marsee, a 17-year-old athlete from Oklahoma
who was diagnosed with tongue cancer as a result of "dipping" tobacco.
Two years after Marsee's diagnosis and after numerous surgeries
to remove parts of his cancer-ridden mouth, cheek and face,
Marsee died.
Patrick
Reynolds says it shouldn't be difficult to find ads for
cigarettes: Just stoop down, so your eye sees the world
from a child's perspective, then look in any convenience
store. ''Countertop displays are a big part of it,'' Reynolds
said. ''They make tobacco look like a regular American
product, and they sell it next to the candy.''
"Patrick
Reynolds, grandson of tobacco company magnate R.J. Reynolds,
says Gov. Bill Owens is wrong in wanting to sell off Colorado's
stream of tobacco-settlement dollars for a lump sum amount...
"He
joined other opponents at the Colorado Capitol on Thursday
to oppose the move. He said the upfront settlement - which
Owens wants to use to bail the state out of its current
and future fiscal problems - would prove costly in the
long run.
"It
would dry up dollars used for tobacco-prevention programs
that have proven remarkably effective, Reynolds said...."
"The
grandson of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds said Colorado
shouldn't sell off its share of the national tobacco settlement
for a lump sum as Gov. Bill Owens proposes...."
"Thursday,
anti-smoking and health advocates including the grandson
of the founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. appealed
to legislators to scrap Gov. Owens' plan for a lump-sum
payoff... 'These (smoking-cessation) programs have had
spectacular results,' said Patrick Reynolds, who chose
to work full time against smoking after watching his father
die of lung disease..."
"Reynolds,
attached to a long microphone cord, weaved among the hundreds
of students on the bleachers and floors like a talk show
host. He asked them their feelings about smoking. He put
them in role-playing situations involving parental smoking.
There were warnings about the tobacco industry's efforts
to reach younger customers..."
"Reynolds'
decades-long crusade against smoking has taken him to legislatures
from California to Washington, D.C., and today will land
him in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.
Organizers of the Pittsburgh Family Health Council's Peer
Power convention -- at which Reynolds is the keynote speaker
-- said they expect about 600 middle school and high school
students to attend...."
The
three articles above all ran on April 4, 2003
in the Wisconsin Rapids (WI) Daily Tribune.
"Patrick
Reynolds, whose famous last name has been tied to tobacco
products for about 130 years, told about 830 area seventh-graders
Thursday that tobacco kills....Sponsoring Reynolds' talk
was the Tobacco Free Coalition of Wood County, St. Joseph's
Hospital, Ministry Health Care, and the Riverview Hospital
Association...."
Ban
on Smoking Igniting a Debate
100% smoking ban proposed for
Indianapolis, following bans in CA, Dallas & NYC
Indianapolis Star, February 25, 2003
"Patrick
Reynolds, head of the California-based Foundation for a
Smokefree America, said, ' There's an overwhelming body
of scientific and medical evidence that proves second-hand
smoke causes lung cancer and heart disease in nonsmokers.
Banning smoking 100 percent is an idea whose time has come.'"
Should doctors face malpractice
suits, if they fail to
provide optimal intervention for their smoking patients? Court
TV, Katherine Crier,
The Crier Report, December 16, 2002
"The
Foundation for a Smoke-Free America has hailed the recent
state bans. 'There is no safe level of secondhand smoke,'
said Patrick Reynolds... I think it's a good indicator
of the national mood on banning smoking.' "
"Whether
the products are one percent safer or 15 percent safer,
we really don't have any clue," Reynolds said. "The
big danger is that many smokers may believe these products
are safer than they really are, and will justify their
continued smoking based on that."
This
amendment would have required MIchigan to spend some of
its tobacco settlement money on tobacco education and prevention.
It failed in the election. Michigan Information & Research
Service, Lansing, MI, October 29, 2002
Grandson
of cigarette mogul asks
Superior students to snuff out smoking
Duluth (MN) News-Tribune, Three articles, November 11-14, 2001
Anti-smoking campaign funds cut Associated Press, November 13,
2001
PATRICK
REYNOLDS: Reynolds Heir Slams Tobacco Reuters wire,
March 25, 1999
Reynolds
to speak at Park Falls Oct. 31
(Ashland, WI) Daily Press,
October 29, 2001
R.J.
Reynolds' heir gives anti-smoking message
School visits and a town
hall meeting in Sturgeon Bay tonight
are included in his visit
Green Bay (WI) News-Chronicle, October 10, 2001
Anti-tobacco
group releases third round of television, radio ads Associated Press,
July 24, 2001
Hands Up and Butts Out Time Magazine, April 27, 1987 Beverly Hills outlaws smoking in restaurants
"Posterity may find that this ban was well ahead of its time," says Patrick Reynolds, an antismoking activist and Beverly Hills resident who saw his father die of emphysema. He is the grandson of R.J. Reynolds, founder of the famed tobacco company.
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