Fact Sheet

11 Facts About Secondhand Smoke

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Woman Reading Paper
  1. Secondhand smoke is the combination of gases and small particles which includes smoke from cigarettes, pipes, or cigars, the smoke that is exhaled from someone smoking, and about 7,000 toxins and chemicals.
  2. Of the thousands of chemicals and toxins in secondhand smoke, more than 250 are known to be harmful and 69 cause cancer.
  3. When children are exposed to secondhand smoke, they are more susceptible to ear infections, more severe and frequent asthma attacks, respiratory problems and infections, and sudden infant death syndrome.
Issues: 
Physical and Mental Health
Asthma
Cancer
Smoking

11 Facts About Teen Pregnancy

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Young Teen feeding her newborn.
  1. 3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That’s nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year.
  2. Parenthood is the leading reason that teen girls drop out of school.
Issues: 
Sex Education
Teen Pregnancy
Sex and Relationships

11 Facts About Fitness

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  1. The human body has 650 muscles.
  2. The only exercise you should hold your breath for  is underwater swimming.
  3. The heart is the strongest muscle in the body.
  4. Nearly 50 percent of all young people ages 12-21 are not vigorously active on a daily basis.
  5. For every pound of muscle gained, the body burns 50 extra calories every day.
  6. Only 13 percent of men are physically fit.
  7. More than 30 percent of children ages 6 to 11 are overweight, and over 15 percent are obese.
  8. On average, a person walks 70,000 miles in their lifetime.
Issues: 
Physical and Mental Health
Fitness

11 Facts About Sex Education in the U.S.

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teen couple
  1. In the U.S., more than 750,000 girls ages 15-19 become pregnant every year.
Issues: 
Education
Sex Education
Sex and Relationships

11 Facts About LGBT Life in America

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  1. 42 percent of LGBT people report living in an unwelcoming environment.
  2. LGBT youth are 2x more likely than their peers to be assaulted, kicked, or shoved at school.
  3. Almost three quarters of LGBT youth say they are more honest about themselves on the Internet.
  4. 90 percent of LGBT teens have come out to their close friends.
  5. More than 75 percent of LGBT teens are positive that in the future, people will be more accepting of their sexuality.
  6. Young LGBT who are “out” to their immediate families report feeling happier than those who aren’t.
Issues: 
Discrimination
LGBT Rights

11 Facts About HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

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continental united states map
  1. The first case of AIDS (unidentified at the time) was reported in the U.S. in June, 1981.
  2. HIV infects 1.1 million Americans and more than 18 percent are unaware of their infection.
  3. Every 9.5 minutes, someone becomes infected with HIV in the U.S.
  4. Blacks represent approximately 14 percent of the U.S.
Issues: 
LGBT Rights
Sex Education
HIV and AIDS
Sexual Health
Sex and Relationships

11 Facts About HIV/AIDS in the Latino Community

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HIV Ribbon
  1. Approximately 220,000 out of the 1.1 million people living with HIV in America are Latino.
  2. More than one third of Latinos were tested for HIV late in their illness, which means they were diagnosed with AIDS within a year of testing positive.
  3. In 2009, Latinos made up approximately 16 percent of the U.S. population and accounted for nearly 20 percent of all new HIV cases.  
  4. Latino men accounted for 7,400 (79 percent) new infections among all Latinos. This rate was 2.5 times higher than that of white males in the U.S.
Issues: 
Sex Education
HIV and AIDS
Sexual Health
Sex and Relationships

11 Facts About Reproductive Rights

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Rally
  1. Reproductive justice is a comprehensive term that includes a woman’s right to be healthy, both physically and emotionally, the right to make decisions about her body, and the ability to have economic resources (like health coverage) to plan families.
  2. More than 350,000 women die each year during pregnancy or childbirth. That’s one woman every 90 seconds.
  3. A small yet influential group in the U.S. is fighting to deny women basic reproductive care through birth control pills.
Issues: 
Reproductive Rights
Sex and Relationships

11 Facts About Labor Rights

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Man weaving in India
  1. 217 million children ages 5-17 are involved in child labor around the world.
  2. The nominal wages for women are 17 percent lower than men’s.
  3. Every year, roughly 1.2 million children are trafficked to work in agriculture, mining, factories, armed conflict, and commercial sex work.
  4. In certain regions, women provide the majority of agricultural labor (70 percent) and produce 90 percent of the output
Issues: 
Labor Rights
Human Rights

11 Facts About Mental Disability

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Teen laughing.
  1. Intellectual disability (previously known as mental retardation) means that an individual mentally develops at a below-average rate. These people can have learning difficulties and trouble socially adjusting.
  2. Intellectual disability (sometimes called cognitive disability) is not a disease or a contagious condition.
  3. This type of disability (which differs from person to person) can be caused by any condition which impairs development of the brain before or during birth or in early childhood. More than 250 causes of intellectual disability have been discovered.
Issues: 
Discrimination
Disability Rights
Human Rights

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