"Not for Sale! Not for Sale!" About 700 teenagers shouted those words at a gathering in New Jersey last week. The teens belong to a group called REBEL (Reaching Everyone by Exposing Lies). They were sending a message to cigarette companies.

"The way cigarette makers target kids with ads makes me sick," said REBEL's Jessie Smolin, 17. "We're not for sale. They can't buy us."

Each year 400,000 Americans die of diseases caused by smoking. Studies show that the earlier kids try smoking, the greater their chances of becoming addicted and dying of smoking-related illnesses.

Kids Fight Back
To stop kids from getting started, many states are getting kids to help. In Mississippi, high school students belonging to a group called Frontline visit elementary schools to teach kids why they shouldn't smoke. Last year the group helped pass a law that forbids smoking at school sports events. Since the program began two years ago, teen smoking in Mississippi has dropped.

The same thing happened in Florida after a group called Truth involved kids in creating antismoking ads. The very successful ads now run on national TV.

Surprisingly, money for these programs comes from tobacco companies. In 1998 the companies agreed to pay $250 billion to 46 states for harming people's health. A few states are using some of that money to pay for antismoking programs created by kids.

"Tobacco companies try to tell kids it's cool to smoke," says Leonardo Casas, 16, of REBEL. "We frame the message so that kids can see it's cooler not to."

Daily News from TIME for Kids

February 23, 2001 News Scoop