Mini-grant Opportunity from Safe Routes to School

The National Center for Safe Routes to School is now accepting applications for 20 mini-grants, up to $1,000 each. The aim of the mini-grants is to use student creativity and leadership skills to increase safe walking and bicycling to school. Successful applications will include one or more of the following: student-led activities, concern for the environment, and/or promotion of physical activity. Funded activities must be part of a new or existing Safe Routes to School program.

For more information, see www.saferoutesinfo.org/minigrants. The application deadline is October 30, 2009.The goal of Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs is to enable and encourage children to safely walk and bicycle to school. SRTS programs are implemented nationwide by parents, schools, community leaders, and local, state, and tribal governments.

Various Reasons Behind Teen Smoking

From www.jointogether.org

It's indisputable that too many teenagers are smoking cigarettes, but what's less clear is why they do so, a new study indicates.

Reuters reported Sept. 11 that researchers from the University of Montreal found that the risk factors for youth smoking are so varied -- ranging from self-esteem and parental smoking to alcohol use, age, and level of academic success -- that interventions need to be highly individualized

Researcher Jennifer O'Loughlin and colleagues studied risk factors for smoking among youths entering their teens and tracked them for five years. Nearly half of the 877 students studied tried smoking during the study period, and 21 percent became daily smokers.

They found that the leading risk factors for smoking included use of alcohol and other tobacco products, having friends or siblings who smoked, having parents or teachers who smoked, living in a single-parent family, poor academic performance, feeling stressed, acting impulsively, and feeling the need to smoke.

Researchers also identified factors that were not associated with smoking risk, including gender, physical activity, parents education, feeling depressed, worries about weight, novelty-seeking and watching TV.

The findings were published in the Sept. 1, 2009 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.-->

Avis and Budget Rent-A-Car Go Smoke-Free

Statement by Matthew L. Myers, President Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

Avis Rent-A-Car’s famous advertising slogan “We Try Harder” was never more apt than it is right now. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids applauds Avis Budget Group, Inc. for its announcement today that beginning October 1st, 2009, all Avis and Budget rental vehicles in the United States and Canada will be smoke-free.

By prohibiting smoking in its entire North American rental fleet, Avis will not only be saving on cleaning costs, it will be making renting a car a healthier and far more pleasurable experience for its customers.

In ridding Avis and Budget rental cars of the 4000 chemicals, including over 60 carcinogens, in secondhand smoke, Avis is protecting the rights of all of its customers to breathe clean air. A recent study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded that concentrations of secondhand smoke are significantly higher in cars than concentrations generally measured in bars, restaurants and other public places that allow smoking. In addition, residues from secondhand smoke can remain on cushions and fabrics long after secondhand smoke has cleared.

Avis Budget Group Inc. obviously cares about its customers. They do Try Harder. We hope Avis’s announcement will spur other rental car companies to follow Avis’s lead and make their rental fleets smoke-free as well. It will make renting a car a far healthier and far more pleasurable experience for all consumers.