For the past 10 years Judith Rutkowski and her husband, Richard, have been presenting the American Academy of Family Physicians program, Tar Wars, to the students of Fountain Hills.

The Rutkowskis started teaching the anti-smoking program because it goes hand in hand with their professional careers.

“Prevention has always been a vital part of my work as a nurse, and my husband's work as a family medicine physician,” Judith Rutkowski said. “Prevention of disease is largely in the hands of the patient and education about the health risks of certain behaviors is an important part of prevention. Tobacco use is a major cause of illness and premature death.”

Judith describes Tar Wars as an interactive program rather than just a lecture about the dangers of smoking.

“It shows the students the risks of tobacco use,” Judith said. “And how tobacco use would affect their health, their ability to exercise and participate in sports, and also demonstrates other consequences of tobacco use.”

Tar Wars shows the students these harmful effects by having them compete in exercises like jogging with their nose plug, only breathing through a straw.

The program also goes for the gross-out factor by showing the students bottles of tar, a substance ingested into the body when smoking, and by demonstrating the difference of a healthy lung breathing compared to one damaged by smoke, utilizing a pig’s lung.

In the 10 years that they have been teaching Tar Wars, Judith said she has has noticed a change for the better in the way students perceive smoking tobacco, but new products like e-cigarettes still pose a danger.

“With fewer people using tobacco, and more restrictions on its use in public places, there is more of a negative social stigma to tobacco use,” Judith said. “However, vaping and e-cigarettes are more prevalent in recent years. They are marketed vigorously and the students don’t typically understand that the nicotine in these products and the potential for addiction still present a significant risk to them.”