Anti Nitric Oxide Campaign Pumping Up Fast

Patty Fox

Richmond- Reacting to news of the accidental Nitric Oxide overdose that resulted in the death of 18 year old aspiring bodybuilder and Richmond's First Baptist Church goer Richard Lockwood, members of the church launched

a campaign to educate young people on the dangers of overusing Nitric Oxide, a common ingredient in fitness supplements.

"Nitric oxide is commonly used by athletes and body builders," Explained campaign organizer Patty Fox, "When ingested, it dissolves
 in the bloodstream, dilating the veins. This vasodilation does not decrease the volume of blood the heart pumps, but rather it decreases the force the heart muscle must exert to pump the same volume of blood. Taken in small

doses, the drug can prolong stamina during endurance activities, but if the dose is too high the result can be fatal."

Fox's group began speaking at schools and distributing informational

pamphlets to raise awareness of the issue. "We recognized from the start

that we were a small group, and for us to have a significant impact, we

needed some kind of catchy hook. Something to get kids interested and

spread the word," said Fox, "That's when we came up with the idea of using

social networking to get the message out. When we spoke to kids in school,

we encouraged them to show their support by adding our little logo to their

Facebook and Twitter profile pictures."

The groups logo is the letters NO (the chemical sign for Nitric Oxide), stacked on top of H8, a pseudo rebus for the word hate. According to Fox, the logo is meant to symbolize the core message that the group is trying to send: No tolerance for abusing Nitric Oxide.

Word has spread surprisingly quickly. Literally thousands of teens and young adults have embraced the group's message by adding the NO H8 logo to their social networking accounts."We've seen our logo on accounts from around the world! I had no idea we'd be such a smash success! We've even seen quite a few photos posted to a website called Flickr where people have

painted our logo right on their faces!"

With all of the group's sudden success, has come some unexpected circumstances. The anti Nitric Oxide message seems for some reason to have resonated quite strongly with the gay community. The Christian based group, while somewhat baffled by the response, is receptive to the support.

"We all know homosexuality is a sin, and it makes God sad to know that some

of his children are rejecting him to live a sinful lifestyle, but if the gay community can save just one young Christian athlete from over dosing on Nitric Oxide, then we think it's worth it," Stated Fox, "God works in mysterious ways!"

-M. F. Cornelius