Health News
A "shocking" number of American teenagers smoke cigarettes and/or use smokeless tobacco, the first U.S. surgeon general's report on youth tobacco since 1994 has found. (Photo by Karen Bleier, AFP/Getty Images)
- Athletes Drive A Rise In High Schoolers' Use Of Smokeless Tobacco
High-school athletes are using more smokeless tobacco, even though overall tobacco use among high-school students has declined, according to a study published by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ?We can do more to protect America?s...
- Report Links Smoking With Rheumatoid Arthritis, Other Diseases
By Melissa Landon Kentucky Health News Smoking is even more harmful than previously thought. It not only can cause lung cancer but also rheumatoid arthritis and a long list of other diseases, according to The Health Consequences of Smoking?50 Years of...
- Key Tools Against Smoking In Last 50 Years Have Been Taxes, Laws, Regulations, Medicine, Education And Cessation Programs
Eight million lives have been saved as a result of the U.S. surgeon general's efforts for tobacco control says an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Surgeon General Luther Terry jump-started America's efforts to battle...
- Tobacco Use Higher In Rural Areas; Several Factors Include Tobacco Companies' Targeting Of Rural Youth, Lung Assn. Says
Tobacco use is higher among rural communities than in suburban and urban areas, and smokeless tobacco use is twice as common. According to the American Lung Association, rural youth are more likely to use tobacco and to start earlier than urban youth,...
- New Study Shows Higher Tobacco Taxes Greatly Reduce Youth Smoking
Health advocates today urged Illinois leaders to increase the cigarette tax by $1/pack following a new national study that confirms higher tobacco taxes are very effective at reducing smoking and other tobacco use, especially among kids. The new study,...
Health News
Number of teens and young adults who smoke, use smokeless tobacco is on the rise
A "shocking" number of American teenagers smoke cigarettes and/or use smokeless tobacco, the first U.S. surgeon general's report on youth tobacco since 1994 has found. (Photo by Karen Bleier, AFP/Getty Images)"The numbers are really shocking," Surgeon General Regina Benjamin said, noting the data show 1 in 4 high school seniors and 1 in 3 young adults under age 26 smoke. "It's a problem we have to solve."
Though there was dramatic progress in reducing youth smoking rates from 1997 to 2003, the 899-page report shows the decline has flattened. "Smokeless tobacco is up among white high school-age boys, and cigar smoking appears to be rising among black high school girls," reports David Brown for The Washington Post.
Data from the 2010 Kentucky Youth Tobacco Survey show that almost 25 percent of the state's high-school students are smokers. Although the prevalence of smoking among youth has declined in the past few years, the smoking prevalence among teenagers and young adults is higher than among other adult populations.
"Two people start smoking for every one who dies from the habit each year," Benjamin said. "Almost 90 percent of those 'replacement smokers' first try tobacco before they are 18."
The findings showed smoking can damage lung function at a very young age. One study of "nearly 700 children from East Boston found that those who started to smoke at age 15 exhaled 8 percent less air in one second ? a key measure of lung function ? than non-smoking teenagers. The growth of lung capacity stopped a year earlier in smokers ? at 17 in girls and 19 in boys ? than in non-smokers," Brown reports.
Another study showed how smoking affects the cardiovascular system. Researchers looked at autopsy results of white men ages 25 to 34 who were killed either by trauma or homicide. Smokers were two times as likely to have advanced damage of the abdominal aorta as non-smokers. "They also had somewhat greater damage to the blood vessel most often implicated in acute heart attacks," Brown reports.
Danny McGoldrick of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids told USA Today's Wendy Koch tobacco marketing "is a big cause of the problem." He pointed to his organization's report revealing the tobacco industry's relationship with convenience stores to blatantly advertise and display tobacco products.
The industry's success in fighting increases in tobacco-related taxes is considered to be another factor. But industry officials like Ken Garcia of Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris USA, said "there's already quite a (tax) burden on adult smokers." (Read more)
- Athletes Drive A Rise In High Schoolers' Use Of Smokeless Tobacco
High-school athletes are using more smokeless tobacco, even though overall tobacco use among high-school students has declined, according to a study published by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ?We can do more to protect America?s...
- Report Links Smoking With Rheumatoid Arthritis, Other Diseases
By Melissa Landon Kentucky Health News Smoking is even more harmful than previously thought. It not only can cause lung cancer but also rheumatoid arthritis and a long list of other diseases, according to The Health Consequences of Smoking?50 Years of...
- Key Tools Against Smoking In Last 50 Years Have Been Taxes, Laws, Regulations, Medicine, Education And Cessation Programs
Eight million lives have been saved as a result of the U.S. surgeon general's efforts for tobacco control says an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Surgeon General Luther Terry jump-started America's efforts to battle...
- Tobacco Use Higher In Rural Areas; Several Factors Include Tobacco Companies' Targeting Of Rural Youth, Lung Assn. Says
Tobacco use is higher among rural communities than in suburban and urban areas, and smokeless tobacco use is twice as common. According to the American Lung Association, rural youth are more likely to use tobacco and to start earlier than urban youth,...
- New Study Shows Higher Tobacco Taxes Greatly Reduce Youth Smoking
Health advocates today urged Illinois leaders to increase the cigarette tax by $1/pack following a new national study that confirms higher tobacco taxes are very effective at reducing smoking and other tobacco use, especially among kids. The new study,...