Singarpore: Images on Cigarette Packs Come to Life for the Kids

Source from:  The Straits Times 11/02/2012

Some pupils gasped, while others cringed as they shuffled past preserved specimens of human lungs blackened and diseased from smoking.
 
"Can I not look? I'll have nightmares," 12-year-old Koh Ker Shuan of South View Primary School asked her two classmates.
 
Nonetheless, she bravely did.

 
 

"The black one (lung specimen) is scary, but I think I understand better the bad effects of smoking now," the Primary 6 pupil said.
 
The display, on loan from the National University of Singapore (NUS), includes an ulcerated stomach and two hearts with clogged arteries, all preserved in glass casings. The specimens are part of a new anti-smoking pilot programme initiated by Alexandra Hospital.
 
It is the first time the hospital has reached out to schools, said Dr Quek Lit Sin, head of its emergency medicine department.
 
The pilot programme, specifically targeted at Primary 6 pupils, aims to drive home - from a young age - the dangers of smoking.
 
Existing anti-smoking programmes, based on regular talks and slide shows, have failed to curb the number of smokers, said Dr Soh Poh Choong, principal resident physician of the emergency medicine department at Alexandra Hospital and the person who is spearheading this programme.
 
"So there must be something more aggressive to reach out to the kids," she said.
 
With that in mind, the mother of two borrowed the specimens from the NUS pathology lab for more "impact". Her sons, 10 and 12, also attend South View Primary.
 
Seeing the specimens made 12-year-old Dillion Wee squirm, but it "came as a wake-up call that those pictures on the cigarette packs are real", he said.
 
The display is not meant to "shock them, but to present them with the truth", Dr Soh said.
 
A national health survey conducted two years ago showed a stark increase in the number of daily smokers among young adults aged 18 to 29 - from 12.3 per cent in 2004 to 16.3 per cent in 2010.
 
The number of under-18s, who are barred by law from smoking, also increased: Almost 7,000 were caught in 2010, more than in previous years.
 
It was reported this week that 4.5 per cent of the five million population here are addicted to smoking, according to a nationwide study.
 
Many young smokers' first contact with a cigarette takes place at the age of 13, said Dr Soh.
 
So this is the ideal time, she said, to reach out to children after their Primary School Leaving Examination - just before they hit 13.
 
If successful, Dr Soh said she hopes to take the programme to other primary schools nationwide.
 
The hospital is also coordinating with the Health Promotion Board to ensure that this programme does not replicate existing ones.
 
"They're observing how successful we are and we'll link up. At the moment it's still experimental," said Dr Quek.
 
He hopes to eventually involve the Singapore Armed Forces as well, since young people also turn to smoking during national service.
 
The hospital exhibition aside, the Primary 6 pupils were given a couple of talks and taught how to perform chest compressions, a component of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They then got to practise their skills using dummies.
 
For most of the pupils, the highlight of the day was the display of human specimens.
 
"When you actually see it, and it looks like that, it's very scary," said 12-year-old Manu Magal.
 
"I don't think I'll be able to eat the sandwich my mother packed for me after this." Enditem