Pushcart
participants prepare for festival, educate
community
By Sonya Smith
On-line Forty-Niner
 The
second annual “Muscle 500 at the Beach”
on Saturday will have Cal State Long Beach
students racing pushcarts in support of
tobacco-free living.
Alcohol and tobacco free, the event hopes
that their anti-tobacco messages on the
pushcarts will, “Educate the college community
about the risks of tobacco use and the harmful
effects of secondhand smoke,” said Jana
Weeks of the CSULB Center for Health Care
Innovation and Campuses Organized and United
for Good Heath.
With 75 percent of college students self-reported
as non-smokers and 80 percent of Californians
self-reported as non-smokers, the event
hopes to change the future health of campus
communities, Weeks said.
Smoking is attributed to various health
side effects and illnesses such as cancers
of the lung, larynx, oral cavity, pharynx
and esophagus, increased risk of miscarriage,
pre-term delivery, stillbirth, infant death,
low birth weight in infants and reproductive
disorders, according to the American Cancer
Society.
Also, “Smokers who quit before age 50 have
half the risk of dying in the next 15 years
compared with those who continue to smoke.
Those who quit by age 35 avoid 90% of the
risk attributable to tobacco,” the American
Cancer Society reported.
To spread the anti-tobacco message, the
good health group taught the various Greek
fraternities and sororities involved with
the pushcart race about the new smoking
policy and health concerns associated with
tobacco during seminars. “The [18 to 24
year-olds] do not realize they are being
targeted by the tobacco companies,” Natalie
Whitehouse-Capuano from C.O.U.G.H. said.
The pushcart race will include teams of
racers, building and racing their carts
against other teams in a relay, Weeks said.
The tobacco control advocates will judge
the carts for awards such as Best Anti-Tobacco
Message, Best Car Design, Best Paint Job
and Team Spirit.
The event began through funding from the
Los Angeles County Tobacco Control and Prevention
Program to promote awareness and change
smoking policies, Whitehouse-Capuano said.
Currently, Cal State Long Beach’s new smoking
policy was approved by the Academic Senate
and is in the process of being approved
by the Chancellor’s Office and the Student
Union, Whitehouse-Capuano said. Expected
to be approved by fall 2003, the new policy
will create non-smoking areas around all
entrances and exits to buildings, along
the walkway leading to the main library
from the escalator and within any open area
buildings such as the CBA building.
Cal State Fresno is also in the process
of changing their smoking policy to designate
certain smoking areas, Whitehouse-Capuano
said. Cal State Humboldt already has a strict
smoking policy with smoking only allowed
in the parking lots.
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