Nov 30 2006
Teen Smoking – What Can We Do to Stop It?
Google Teen Smoking and see what you get. I count over 2.7 million links and would say that qualifies as an important issue in our world today. What can be done to stop teens from smoking?
Let’s start with the most hypocritical group in the mix; tobacco companies who produce anti-smoking ads. Clearly, the tobacco companies are extremely interested in cultivating new young and healthy customers. It seems their regular customer base has a high mortality level. Why on earth would these people want to produce non-smoking ads?
In a report published recently in the online version of American Journal of Public Health, researchers looked at those anti-smoking ads and found some interesting results:
“These results are very important because they demonstrate that the tobacco company’s nominal ‘youth smoking prevention’ programs do not prevent kids from smoking,” said Stanton A. Glantz, a professor of medicine at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco.
“These programs, like earlier similar efforts by the tobacco industry, simply serve the industry’s public relations needs and support their political efforts to displace meaningful tobacco control,” Glantz said. “The industry should immediately suspend these programs.”
Well, that would confirm what would be a logical assumption. Tobacco companies are just trying to put a good face on their deadly product. Being aware of the real reason behind some anti-smoking campaigns can be a big influence in stopping teens from smoking. Researchers at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that teens were half as likely to smoke if they understood the subliminal messages in cigarette ads:
“Many factors that influence a teen’s decision to smoke – like peer influence, parental smoking and risk-seeking tendency – are difficult to change,” said the study’s lead author, Brian Primack, M.D., Ed.M., assistant professor in the School of Medicine’s division of general internal medicine. “However, media literacy, which can be taught, may be a valuable tool in efforts to discourage teens from smoking.”
The more teens are aware of the games that are being played in the media, the less likely they are to smoke. And that’s a good thing because other research is showing another reason for kids to avoid smoking:
Younger smokers in the 12- to 14-year-old age group were 28.4 percent more susceptible to developing an alcohol problem later compared with 4.2 percent for nonsmokers although both reported having one to eight drinks in the past month.
[...] smoking appears to prime the brain for subsequent addiction to alcohol and possibly other substances.
It’s not bad enough that the smoking can kill you, it also gets you primed for other addictions.
So what’s the answer? Many communities, cities, and states are considering or have passed non-smoking laws. Others are continuing to raise taxes on cigarettes in an effort to either stop smokers or generate some positive cash-flow for governments. Do these efforts work on teens?
I believe some of the anti-smoking ads by thetruth.com and others do have an impact. I work at a cancer hospital and get daily reminders of the results of smoking. I know that one trip to our Head & Neck Center will be all it takes to ensure my kids never smoke. It’s not a pretty sight.
For more, check out these blogs:
- Teen Smoking
- Teen Smoking Ups Risk for Alcohol Disorders
- 5 Truths About Teen Smoking
- Teenagers Need More to Lose
- Teen Smoking – Why Media Campaigns and Education Are Not Enough
- Teen anti-smoking ads starting to backfire
