Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
For 25 years, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has fought to protect children and save lives from the #1 cause of preventable death: tobacco use. Our vision is a future free of the death and disease caused by tobacco – because tobacco has killed enough.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is the leading advocacy organization working to reduce tobacco use and its deadly consequences in the United States and around the world. Through strategic communications and policy advocacy campaigns, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids works to change public attitudes about tobacco and promote proven policies that are most effective at reducing tobacco use and save the most lives. We’re making incredible progress against tobacco: in the U.S., our work has helped drive smoking rates to record lows and around the world we’re helping to turn the tide of a global tobacco epidemic that would otherwise kill one billion people this century.
But the battle against tobacco is far from over:
Tobacco still kills nearly half a million Americans and more than 8 million people worldwide each year.
The tobacco industry relentlessly peddles its deadly products, targeting kids and other vulnerable populations.
Youth e-cigarette use in the United States has skyrocketed to what the U.S. Surgeon General and the FDA have called “epidemic” levels.
Our remarkable progress shows that we can win the fight against tobacco. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is unyielding in our resolve and committed to finishing the job.
Take Down Tobacco
Take Down Tobacco is the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids’ signature program that educates, empowers and engages youth in the fight against tobacco. Ninety percent of adult smokers begin this deadly addiction as teenagers or earlier. As a result, youth are critical and powerful voices in the fight against tobacco. They encourage their peers to be tobacco-free, stand up to the tobacco industry and its deceptive marketing, and urge elected leaders to take action. Through our Take Down Tobacco program, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids fosters young leaders who are striving to make the next generation tobacco-free.
The goals of the program are to :
Raise awareness of the problem of tobacco use communities across the country
Encourage youth to reject the tobacco industry’s deceptive marketing and stay tobacco-free
Engage youth advocates--parents, caretakers, educators, and others--to join the fight against the tobacco industry and protect our kids from a lifetime of nicotine addiction
Urge elected officials to take action to protect kids from tobacco
The Take Down Tobacco program is a 365 day a year effort that culminates every spring with the Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action where hundreds of people come together to host events and rally together to stand up and speak out against the tobacco industry. This past April marked the 27th occurrence of this event, and there have been many important victories since the first National Day of Action (previously called Kick Butts Day) was held in 1996.
Over the past quarter century, the U.S. has made remarkable progress in taking on the toughest fights against the tobacco industry. But even though youth smoking rates are on a downward trend and at an all-time low, skyrocketing youth e-cigarettes rates are reversing the progress we’ve made toward achieving the first tobacco-free generation. And of course, from cigarettes and cigars to smokeless tobacco to heat-not-burn cigarettes, the tobacco industry peddles a wide range of addictive and dangerous products that put kids at risk across the globe.
Take Down Tobacco is a reflection of both how far we've come and how far we still need to go. We remain committed to our efforts to create the first tobacco-free generation and tackle adversity with collaboration, intimidation with integrity, and deception with evidence. We are fighting for health, for kids, for equity, and for change – to build a more equitable, just and healthier future.
Hear PAVe’s podcast interview with CTFK’s CEO and President Matt Myers:
Episode 008: A tobacco-free generation