The program at the Vox classes in Amsterdam is an initiative of professor of chemical immunology Neefjes and Wanda de Kanter, lung specialist at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital. Together they want to prevent children from smoking by letting them realize that for years paffen can lead to deadly lung cancer. According to him, the gap in life expectancy between highly educated and low-skilled people can amount to thirteen years in the case of heavy smokers. "We can not accept that as a society."
From football field to penalty area
The program includes meetings with lung cancer patients, a visit to the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek and lessons on the functioning of lungs. The article describes such a lecture by Neefjes, who shows the children the sick smoker lungs he has brought with him. He compares the total area of alveoli in healthy lungs with a soccer field. "This patient no longer had a football field. At most, a penalty area. He can eventually be stitched. "There is also information about marketing strategies of the tobacco industry, resistance to peer pressure and addiction.
Read the article on Volkskrant.nl and watch the video in which lung cancer patient Anne Marie van Veen talks to students and tells Sjaak Neefjes about the program.