Good News, Bad News on Teen Smoking
The results of the University of Michigan’s 2007 Monitoring The Future study were released last week, showing a 33 percent decline in teen cigarette use between 2001 and 2007. While at first glance this looks like good news, the fact is that while there was a decline in smoking among 8th graders for the first time in four years, there has been no significant change in smoking rates for 10th or for 12th graders during that time period. Other recent surveys also indicate that smoking declines have stalled among youth and adults.
The decline in youth smoking that occurred in the last decade indicates that we know how to reduce students’ smoking, but the stalled progress in more recent years is a clear warning to resist complacency. With the national smoking rate for adults still hovering above 20 percent, it is important to continue to fight this pediatric disease: four out of five smokers start smoking before the age of 18.
And while states continue to cut funding for tobacco prevention, tobacco industry marketing has increased from $6.9 billion in 1998 to $13.4 billion in 2005, according to the most recent Federal Trade Commission report on tobacco marketing.
Our nation has made remarkable progress in reducing smoking in recent decades, but this battle against the leading preventable cause of death is far from won. Tobacco-free school policies play an important role in preventing kids from smoking and keeping kids healthy. And, it is the healthy students who stay in school and achieve.
To see guidelines on tobacco-free schools policies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, go to http://www.cdc.gov/mmwR/preview/mmwrhtml/00026213.htm.