Y St. Member takes State!

Our very own Emma R. from James Madison HS FCCLA just recently won a major award. Emma was competing in the FCCLA State Conference April 28-29 and took home 1st Place in the National Programs STAR event. National programs sounds like something familiar…

That’s right, Emma used her experiences as a Y St. member to take home the victory. For those not in FCCLA, a STAR (...

Cigars and Pipes Gain Popularity & Taxes Lose

Nobody can deny it. Big tobacco is really good at reading between the lines. In the newest legal loophole used by big tobacco, the federal government is reporting a tax loss of up to $1.1 billion thanks to the increasing popularity of pipes and cigars.

Pipe tobacco and cigars gained quite a bit of popularity from 2009 through 2011. One of the bi...

Healthy Youth Day Fun!

Ever had that nervous/excited feeling when you know you're about to do something pretty important? Where you just have to roll your shoulders back, march on, and do what you gotta do? That's how it was for us at this year's Healthy Youth Day in Richmond.

Along with Y-Sters Collier P. and Sierra L., we visited the General Assembly to talk with Senators...

Coming Clean

It has long been suspected that big tobacco has known about the health risks associated with smoking for decades. Many believe that tobacco companies choose to ignore, or in some cases even lie about or cover up, the truth. The truth in this case, is that smoking can cause cancer and other serious health problems.

The problem is, through endless legal wrangling tobacco...

Kicking Butts!

Five Y-Sters recently teamed up with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to make a video called “Irreplaceable.” No, not like the Beyoncé song—this video reminds us that every life affected by tobacco is irreplaceable. Why is this so important? Because tobacco companies want teens to be “replacement smokers” for the 440,000 people their products kill each ...

FDA Labels Blocked

Warning Labels BLOCKED

As many of you know, one of things Y St. has been looking forward to in 2012 is the new cigarette packaging.  Y St. helped the FDA choose nine new warning labels, complete with bolder texts and hard-hitting images, to be the face of the new cigarette packages. Unfortunately, a federal court judge in Washington, DC ruled the labels unconstitutional and i...

E-Cig Explodes...In Someone's Face

Everyone knows that smoking isn’t safe. Even electronic cigarettes have their risks; while they contain fewer chemicals than a normal cig, they have higher amounts of nicotine per puff and make quitting tough even though they’re marketed as a “healthier” alternative to traditional smoking. But for one Florida man, the danger of smoking an E-cig took on a whole new sha...

The First Lady is Serving Up Healthy Lunches

How many of you recognize school lunch as a square piece of pizza, a scoop of wilted and colorless vegetables, chocolate milk, and of course a side of french fries? We’re guessing that most of you have seen this on your lunch tray before. With more than 12 million young people considered overweight or obese in the U.S., its time to ask the question…. should we be serving this fo...

The Not-So-Happy Meal

Toys, computer games, appealing commercials, social media, and celebrity endorsements are all things you would not typically associate with fast food. However, each year obesity rates in the United States are rising, and this targeted marketing of fast food towards kids and teenagers must be partially responsible.

In our increasingly overweight society, fast food restaurants conti...

Money Well Spent

Despite the country being in a state of recession, funding is still allocated both federally and locally for healthy lifestyle promotions. The largest amount of money goes to anti-smoking advertising and has for some time now. With tough economic times upon us, we’ve seen the amount of money given to anti-smoking campaigns dwindle but never go away entirely because, despite there being...