- More than 4,000 teenagers begin smoking each day (CDC).
- Ystreet, a group of more than 1,000 Virginia teens, wants to "86 the Smoke" in commonwealth restaurants. They are taking their message straight to Virginia lawmakers.
- Someone who starts smoking aged 15 is three times more likely to die of cancer due to smoking than someone who starts in their late twenties," UK Health Minister Caroline Flint said.
- Stop Smoking is the Fashion was a play in which a Salterbeck, UK youth group enlightened other youngsters about the dangers of smoking.
- Youth 2 Youth, a Wisconsin teen group, is taking their antismoking message to a Wisconsin legislation committee hearing.
- Southwestern Ontario (Canada) teens take action against films with smoking seeking stricter ratings for them from the Ontario Film Review Board.
- Smoking as a teenager may lead to depression in adulthood, according to a 2 year study, Carlos Bolanos, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neurosciencea at Florida State University.
- Most young smokers between the ages of 16 and 24 years trying to quit smoking do not use recommended smoking cessation methods, according to a report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publication.
- Hey teens! Did you know that just one cigarette can cause addiction? 96,000 teens aged 14-15 were questioned by New Zealand medical researchers from 2002 to 2004 and those were the results (journal Addictive Behaviors).
- Buyer beware! Flavored cigarillos (little cigars) are winning over Canadian teens. Unfortunately many unwitttingly become addicted to the tangerine, peach, raspberry, chocolate, vanilla and spearmint flavored smokes. Sales zoomed from 50,000 in 2001 to an incredible 80 million in 2006. They are sold without health warnings.
- Teens are more likely to smoke if their parents began smoking at an early age and continued to smoke at high levels, according to the long-running Indiana University Smoking Survey as published in the journal Health Psychology.
- Just under 22 percent of high school students smoked in 2007 vs 23 percent in 2005, and 21.9 percent in 2003, the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey revealed.
- About 20 percent of nonsmokers ages 12 to 17 are susceptible to start smoking researchers concluded after analyzing data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
- Students exposed to smoking at home were most likely to take up the habit themselves, according to surveys of nearly 750,000 teens in 137 countries and territories (CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report).
* In Europe, 71 percent of nonsmoking students surveyed said they were exposed to cigarette smoke at home.
* Exposure was much lower in other parts of the world. For example, in Africa, just 23 percent of nonsmoking students got exposure.
- In 2006, 1.2 million American teens smoked cigarettes, 631,000 drank, 586,000 used marijuana, almost 50,000 used inhalants, 27,000 used hallucinogens, 13,000 used cocaine, and 3,800 used heroin on an average day, according to a by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
- Teens are more likely to smoke if they underestimate the risks of smoking or overestimate the social value (it's cool?), according to a report by Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, colleagues published in the American Journal of Public Health.
- Graphic health warning labels on cigarette packs may help deter teens from smoking, according to a Cancer Council study (Australia).
- Teens who play sports are less likely to smoke (the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine).
- Teen smoking may be discouraged in towns with restaurant smoking bans. Teens were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers in smoke-free restaurants according to a study of Massachusetts teens published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
- Teens who themself or family members were affected by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita were more likely to smoke cigarettes study finds (Information from: BeaumontEnterprise.com).
- Most smokers start before age 18, according to the Department of Health and Human Services and other sources.
- Problems with sllep may increase the risk for teens who begin smoking and drinking, according to a study featured at 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
- Hey girls! Heavy Smoking As Teenager Might Add Pounds Later (FAT)! And you thought smoking would make you thin. These facts were uncovered by Dr. Suoma Saarni, a researcher at the University of Helsinki (Finland).
- Parents tobacco use influences teens' smoking, according to Dr. Stephen E. Gilman of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and his colleagues (Pediatrics).
- Retailers have curtailed tobacco sales to underage youth (below 18 years old) to 10.9 percent, the lowest in a decade, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which conducts random inspections nationwide with decoy buyers making tobacco purchases at retailer establishments.
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Older Youth Smoking
Young Australians, 18 to 24 year olds, cut their smoking rate in half since 1980. 19 percent are addicted to smoking now compared to 47 percent in 1980, according to the Tobacco in Australia report.
Two Saudi young people walked 60 kilometers in 13 hours, from Jeddah to Makkah, to raise awareness that smoking kills. Rasheed Abul'ula, 20 and Saeed Al-Ghamdi, 22.
A Toowoomba, Australia teenager was fined $1200 and ordered to pay an additional $200 in court costs for buying a packet of cigarettes for his 17-year-old mate.
England raised the minimum age for buying tobacco from 16 to 18 years old in October 2007.
In Scotland, the legal age for buying cigarettes goes from 16 to 18 on February or March 2007, according to Andy Kerr, Scottish health minister.
South Africa raised minimum age for buying and selling tobacco products to 18 years old. It also prohibits anyone under the age of 18 years old from entering a designated smoking area.
* South Africa shoots down tobacco company's ability to use covert marketing aimed at young people.
Slovenia raised the minimum legal age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products from 15 to 18.
In France, the legal age goes from 16 to 18 for both alcohol and tobacco products (2009). This brings the French in line with most of Europe.
Libya forbids selling cigarettes to people under 18 years old.
High school students in the United States tobacco use dropped 18% between 2000 and 2002, according to a survey reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Teen arrested for smoking outside a Wyoming Area High School football game.
Poor Judgment. Did you know that pregnant teenagers may smoke to try to reduce the size of their babies and make delivery less painful? This according to UK Public health minister Caroline Flint at a Labour Party conference fringe meeting.
Are you kidding? In Malaysia, a student caught smoking was forced to smoke 42 cigarettes for 4 hours as punishment for smoking by his teacher.
What you don't know. . . 16 percent of Pakistani girls have smoked by the age of 15 and more than 6 percent smoke once a month or more. Unfortunately the girls were unaware of the dangers of smoking, according to an Aga Khan University study published in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
The Rapides Parish school district is one of seven Central Louisiana school districts that got a grant to educate students about the danger of tobacco and smoking.
9.5 percent of students aged between 13-15 smoke cigarettes worldwide. European countries had the highest rate at 19.1 percent, according to a 2006 study.
The NYC teen smoking rate has fallen 20 percent from 2005 and 2007. The teen smoking rate was 17.6 percent in 2001, but fell to 8.5 percent in 2007. Armed with new survey results, NYC Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jonathan Mintz released a supporting statement. They believe the reduced teen smoking will prevent "at least 8,000 premature deaths."
In Switzerland, 30 percent of 15 year olds smoked in 2007 vs 34 percent in 2003.
In Nigeria, 18.1 percent of young people smoke and growing.
North Carolina teens reject smoking. The 2007 North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey found that smoking rates among middle school and high school students fell to all-time lows.
* NC teens recruiter for the war on tobacco. The state Health and Wellness Trust Fund's Tobacco Reality Unfiltered program unleashes teens discuss the evils of smoking with middle and elementary school students.
Just 15.5 percent of Viginia high school students smoke, a decade low.
More Alabama teens living smoke-free. There was a 17.5 percent decrease in smoking by teens in 2008 vs. 2006, according to a Alabama Department of Public Health survey.
Mississippi student smoking fell nearly 70 percent according to the Mississippi State Department of Health's 10-year study entitled Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Indiana high school students using snuff and chewing tobacco may be growing - - cigarette smoking is holding steady or falling, according to survey by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center at Indiana University's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
Indiana teens smoking has decreased about 40 percent since 2000.
* It's now 18.3 percent of all high school students vs. 31.6 percent in 2000, according to the Indiana Youth Tobacco Survey.
Minnesota's smoking rate for people 18-24 years old dropped from 37 to 28 percent(42,000 fewer smokers), according to a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota June 2007 survey.
22 Percent of North Dakota high school students smoked the state Health Department said.
Nebraska high school students' smoking rate was 19.7 percent, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
Hawaii student's smoking rate decreases but tobacco companies are upping the ante to win young smokers.
50% of Montana teens in have tried smoking cigarettes - - down 2% from 2007 and 20% from a decade ago.
Canadian teens had 15 percent fewer smokers between 2000 and 2008 (Maclean's).
* They also drink less and are having sex less often.
15 to 19 year old teens in Alberta, Canada use of tobacco increased. New flavoured (licorice, bubble gum, cocoa, etc.) cigarillos and chewing tobaccos get much of the blame, according to a study by Health Canada.
* 15% of Canadians between the ages of 15 and 19 smoked a cigarillo in 2006, VS 3% of Canadians over 25, according to a 2006 study by Health Canada.
16.6 percent of Uganda's 13 and 15 surveyed used some form of tobacco, according to The Global Youth Tobacco Survey.
* 7 percent the boys smoke
* 15 percent of the girls smoke
Teens smoke less in New Zealand. 6.9 percent of year ten students smoke daily vs 9.8 percent in 2004.
A UK teen, who overdosed on nicotine gum (nicorette) that was provide his school's counselors, was hospitalized. So if you use it, do so in moderation!
Marlboro cigarettes are the favorite brand of teens who regularly smoke, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
81 percent of established teen smokers preferred 3 brands favored: Marlboro at 52 percent of high school students; Newport at 21 percent and Camel at 13 percent.*For middle school students, the percentages were 43 percent, 26 percent and 9 percent, respectively (see above).
Mystery shopping cuts underage smoking. 20.8% fewer 10th graders smoked daily from 1997 and 2003 after states implemented the Synar Amendment, according to a a national study by Dr. Joseph R. DiFranza and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (BMC Public Health).
The Not On Tobacco (N-O-T) program, offered by hundreds of schools across the nation, has been used by more than 150,000 teens in 48 states attemtping to quit smoking since 1999.
The US wants to end teens and others smoking clove cigarettes by banning them, but Indonesia is tying protect its 4 million clove farmers and vows to take the fight to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Dying prematurly in adulthood is increased for obese 18 year olds. Just as smoking more than 10 cigarettes a day decrease people's lifespan, according to Swedish researchers (BMJ).
See more kid smoking facts.
See how smoking and drinking affect older youth smokers.
Hey, parents that smoke, learn how your children are hurt by it. Teens, ask your parents to read this. Teen cigarette smoking sucks. If you are a teenage smoker, why not stop smoking now?