Bidis: The Candy Covered Killers The Candy Covered Killers

Bidis KH Simulation One – Bidis Tony Bernard Corey Rumley Carlton Kimbrough

What are "bidis"? Bidies, Beedis (pronounced “bee-dees”), or Kreteks (pronounced “cree-techs”) are hand-rolled green or brown leaf cigarettes, made in India and other Southeast Asian countries. These are also known as the poor man's cigarette, since it’s only about “$2.00 for a pack of twenty”. The bidi is cheap because it is made from the “flakes and dust of dark tobacco leaves”. Strong flavoring, such as: –vanilla, –licorice, –strawberry, –cinnamon, or –clove, is used to mask the poor quality of the tobacco. The unfiltered final product is a small, slim cigarette, tied at both ends with a colorful thread.

Where did they originate? Bidis and Kreteks originated in India and Southeast Asia after tobacco was brought to these countries by spice traders in Bidis are essentially the hot dogs of the tobacco industry. They are cheap, generic, and a general public alternative to finer tobacco products. All the ingredients that were not good enough or left over from the finer tobacco products are hand rolled together in a “tendu or temburni leaf” and covered in flavorings to mask the poor quality of the tobacco.

How accessible are they for children and youth? Children accessibility is easy, since Bidis and Kreteks are being carried by almost all local convenience and gas stores. They are advertised as safe and natural; children can purchase these like they would candy. As long as manufacturers advertise them as safe and natural, come candy flavorings like chocolate, and are not stopped from buying them…….. Children will assume they are safe to consume.Children will assume they are safe to consume.

How prevalent is its use by youth? An estimated 4 percent of middle school students and current bidi or Kretek smokers. An estimated 6 percent of high school students are current bidi or Kretek smokers. Bidi and Kretek smoking is more common among middle school –males (5 percent) than middle school –females (3 percent) However it was more than twice as common among –male (8 percent) compared with –female (4 percent) high school students. CDC. Tobacco Use, Access, and Exposure to Tobacco in Media Among Middle and High School Students — United States, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2005;54(12):297–301. Available at Accessed: July 2004.

How addictive are "bidis?" Since Bidis and Kreteks have higher concentrations of nicotine than conventional cigarettes, we can assume that they are more addictive than regular cigarettes too. Studies in the U.S. and in India have found that bidis have: –three times more carbon monoxide and about –five times the amount of tar compared to filtered cigarettes, –They also contain more phenol, ammonia, nitrosamines and hydrogen cyanide. According to epidemiologist Samira Asma at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Smoking and Health.

What are the immediate and long-term health effects from their use? Smoking bidis has been independently proven to cause: Cancer of the tongue; Cancer of the gums; Cancer of the floor of the mouth; Cancer of the larynx; Cancer of the esophagus; Lung cancer.

Prevention Programs Family Schools Community Any prevention program aimed at student/children has to have at least three point of attack: 1.family, 2.school and 3.community. In addition to this, integrating other students into the process of prevention is proving to be very useful as more and more data on cooperative learning begins to pour in.

Family Prevention The family plays a pivotal role in whether or not a child picks up smoking. It is the duty of the parents to reinforce the harmful effects of smoking at home. Schools should also utilize homework assignments in which the parents become involved. This increases the likelihood that parents have effective conversations about the importance of nonsmoking with their children.

School Prevention Education also plays a pivotal role in the development of nonsmokers. Because of the alarming rate of adolescent smokers, schools are faced with the responsibility of educating the students about the harmful effects of smoking. School Administrators will need to have a well-enforced school policy on tobacco use, to deter future smokers. Teachers will need to educate the students on the possible short-term and long-term negative physiologic and social consequences of tobacco use. As well as, social influences, peer pressure, and refusal techniques. These skills should be taught from Kindergarten to the twelfth grade, and intensified in the more susceptible middle school grades.

Community Prevention The community can reduce the likelihood that children will become tobacco users by supporting the school health programs financially. Supporting the cessation of all smokers with special help programs, and by using the YRBS to evaluate their progress in reducing tobacco use. The community can also continue to put pressure on tobacco companies to put more money into education, prevention, and cancer research.

An Anti-Bidi Army Students Parents Teachers & Faculty Members Community & Business Owners War Council With all of this in mind, our plan is a simple one.

We will form an army of students These will be students who have shown that they are capable of standing against peer pressure. They will be taught all about the dangers of bidis, to pass onto other students. They will be drilled and grilled on how to stand their ground and point out how dangerous and just plain stupid smoking of any kind is. They will make a difference!!!

We will form an army of parents Our parents will be responsible for looking at how best to reinforce any information given out by the school. We will let them come up with facts and figures that can be posted on refrigerators, in book bags, or maybe even in bedrooms. The parents will take a look at the demographics of the school and determine if there need to be alternate strategies of getting the word out to different ethnic groups and/or socioeconomic groups.

We will form an army of teachers and faculty members The teachers will be the point guards or the quarterbacks of the team so to speak. They will control everything from their classrooms. They will prompt discussions about bidis among their classes. They will take the pulse of their students to see “what’s really going on”. They know that kids really love to talk. They really love to talk if they think we are listening. Teachers are very adept at providing the forum and letting them talk while interjecting useful, thought provoking information to be considered. In addition, teachers will also be responsible for training our Army of Students. They will be like the people of the civil rights era who risked their lives to educate people about registering to vote and how to use the voting machines. They even taught people how to be non-violent at demonstrations and sit-ins. Our teachers will be reminded of what a vital part they play in turning our top notch soldiers (children) into agents of change and spokespeople against the use of bidis.

We will form an army of community leaders and business owners Basically, this army just needs to follow our lead and plays a supportive role. If we need funds to print ideas and messages, here is where it should come from. If we need places to meet, here is where it should come from. If we need speakers to come in and reinforce our messages, again, here is where it should come from. This army understands that these students we are trying to reach will one day be registered voters and employees in this very community. They realize the value in reaching them at an early age. Our store owners will caution all of their current employees against selling to underage children and the dangers of bidis. They will card all customers to make sure they are of age.

War Council Finally, there will be a War Council. This will be an ad-hoc of all of our armies. Two our three from each army and headed by the principal, this group will be like the Joint Chief of Staffs in the USA military. They will discuss strategy, access successes and failures.

Thank You All in all, I have no doubt that this approach will help to reduce the use of bidis on school grounds. It will even reduce the use of bidis throughout the community. This assumes, of course, that the use in the community also includes some of the kids at the school.