Experts say more regulation could stop young Americans from picking up the deadly habit
WebMD News from HealthDay
By Robert Preidt
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Nov. 13, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- More than a fifth of American teens smoke or use tobacco in some way, which means that millions of them are putting themselves at risk for early death, a federal government study warns.
Nearly 23 percent of high school students use tobacco products, and more than 90 percent of those teens smoke cigarettes, cigars, hookahs or pipes, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Nine out of ten smokers tried their first cigarette by age 18," Dr. Tim McAfee, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, said in an agency news release. "We must do more to prevent our youth from using tobacco products, or we will see millions of them suffer and die prematurely as adults."
One anti-smoking expert agreed.
The new data, "demonstrates the need for strong regulation of all tobacco products, tobacco labeling, as well as tobacco marketing," said Patricia Folan, director of the Center for Tobacco Control at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y.
She said that unless smoking rates among youth begin to decline, "Americans will continue to be burdened with tobacco-related disease, disability and death for generations to come."
According to a report from the U.S. Surgeon General released earlier this year, unless there is a sharp drop in youth smoking rates, 5.6 million youngsters currently aged 17 and younger will die early from smoking-related diseases.
The CDC's new National Youth Tobacco Survey found that in 2013 nearly 23 percent of high school students and 6.5 percent of middle school students said they had used a tobacco product within the last month. Overall, 46 percent of high school students and nearly 18 percent of middle school students said they had at least tried a tobacco product, according to the CDC's National Youth Tobacco Survey.
More than 12 percent of high school students said they currently use two or more tobacco products. That puts them at increased risk for developing nicotine dependence that can result in them continuing to smoke when they're adults, the CDC said.
While many teens who use tobacco believe they can quit, about 75 percent of high school smokers will continue smoking into adulthood, according to the CDC.
Cigarettes were the most common type of tobacco product used by white and Hispanic high school students (14 percent and 13.4 percent), followed by cigars (11.4 percent and 12.1 percent).
Cigar use among black high school students was nearly 50 percent higher than cigarette use (14.7 percent vs. 9 percent), and more than twice as high among black middle school students (4.5 percent vs. 1.7 percent).
source : More Than One-Fifth of High School Students Smoke: CDC
