Students at schools across the state learned the truth about tobacco’s harmful effects in a one-hour Tar Wars classroom presentation from volunteer family physicians, teachers, medical students, nurses and health educators. Tar Wars teaches tobacco prevention in fourth and fifth grades by focusing on the short term negative effects of tobacco use and trains children how to recognize deceptive elements in tobacco advertising.

"Nearly 30 percent (29.2%) of Illinois high school kids are smokers. We have to reach out to kids before they get hooked," says Ellen Brull, M.D., Illinois Academy of Family Physicians board chair and a Tar Wars presenter. "We give them the facts, because the tobacco industry continues to falsely portray smoking as essential to fun, glamour, romance and success."

Medical student at several Illinois medical schools also volunteered their time teaching Tar Wars in local schools, getting a head start on preventive and children’s health care. "Tar Wars gives us another avenue to keep our communities healthy by keeping our kids off tobacco," said Ginger Cotter, a student who coordinated Tar Wars for Rosalind Franklin University in Waukegan.

The Illinois Academy of Family Physicians launched a statewide Illinois Tar Wars effort in the fall of 1998. In the current school year, over 170 healthcare professionals and medical students taught Tar Wars to over 250 elementary schools across the state.

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