School girl has the key to giving up smoking

There have been a number of smoking cessation ads of late, all of which have been designed to hit home the message that children are at risk, both from second hand smoke, and of course the loss of a parent through smoke related deaths. The messages have been hard hitting, although perhaps not as powerful as the latest ‘stop smoking’ accessory to hit the market, not in the least because it was designed by 10 year old Megan Ward from Surrey.

Despite still being at school, Megan was able to use her pocket money, to have a prototype of her 3D key fob made up, depicting a plastic set of lungs that have been blackened with what is said to be just 4 packets of cigarettes. Her motivation behind the UV fob was to create a greater level of awareness concerning the dangers of smoking, after she too lost her Great Grand-Mother to lung cancer.

Her dream was made a reality at the cost of £34, after experts in China developed her prototype. She sent it to anti-smoking consultancy, Gasp which then placed an order for 25,000 key rings at a cost of £12,000. “It is absolutely extraordinary that she has come up with this aged ten” –Metro, 09.

Megan’s Father, 48, claims: “She just amazes me. I don’t know where it all comes from. We handed out a few key rings at school and five parents gave up smoking after seeing it” – The Metro, 09.

Although Megan suffers with dyslexia, putting her at the bottom of her class for certain subjects, she more than compensates with her ingenuity.

Health experts believe that smoking is near enough the number one cause of preventable deaths in the UK.

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Many of you would have come across a story surrounding the suspected child abuse of 1 year Oliver Davey, after relatives of his Mother posted pictures of the tot with an unlit cigarette in his mouth, onto a private Facebook page. Although investigators uncovered no evidence of abuse, the picture is a clear indication that the family had thought the image to be comical, and is testament to a complete lack of education concerning the dangers of smoking.