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'. . . I . . . Ms. Phelicia Jones, American Lung Association's Tobacco Free San Mateo County Program Coordinator, named the students from the Sequoia Union High School District - Students participating in the Program designed to stop the sale of cigarettes to minors: Katherine Lee, Keyana Stubbs, Lawrence Broussard, AJ. Mendez, C. Parise, Tiffany Reed, Jessica Walker, Amanda Leno, Marquisa Benton and Marguetta Benton. Ms. Jones, American Lung Association's Tobacco Free San Mateo County Program Coordinator, introduced students from the Sequoia Union High School District participating in the Program designed to stop the sale of cigarettes to minors. Six students addressed the Council and described the damage cigarette smoking wreaks upon smokers and second hand smokers: 430,000 people die each year due to tobacco related diseases and 53,000 die due to second hand smoke; there are over 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, 401 are toxic and 43 are known to cause cancer, including rat poison and arsenic. Amanda said over 1,500 people die every day from cigarette smoking and the tobacco industry "needs 5,000 new addicts daily to keep sales up. As a result 3,000 young people begin to smoke every day including over 200 young people from California." The students explained the program and said they met every Friday at lunchtime and participated in all major events such as surveys and presentations. As an incentive to participate in the program, the students said they each received $200 at the completion of the program, as well as other incentives throughout the year. The students said they really enjoyed their roles as advocates. Kelly described the surveys done at 52 Redwood City - stores. She said the surveys show that the tobacco industry targets young people, and that tobacco products were all too readily available to people under 18 years of age. She described the law forbidding the sale of cigarettes to young people and said the law was not generally posted as required. Kelly said 37.7% of the stores didn't even ask for identification. She described the candy-look-alikes that encourage smoking and try to convince young people that tobacco tastes good. She said smoking is the most preventable cause of death, and asked the Council to help them "stop the killing." The students submitted a petition with 172 signatures in support of their cause. The petition expressed outrage at the tobacco industry for targeting youth, and urged sellers to restrict sales and marketing to young people through reduced signage inside and outside stores, require age identification, eliminate self-service displays, restrict cigarette advertising three feet and below, and restrict advertising near candy and look-alikes. The students presented a package of materials to the Council that contained important information regarding teens and smoking issues. Ms. Jones, Project Coordinator, described the students as true advocates, dedicated to ending the sale of tobacco products to teens, and asked the Council to join them in their "fight to stop merchants in Redwood City from selling cigarettes to minors." - REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 JUNE 8.1998 MINUTES Page No. 527 PAGE 2