One in six 11 year olds are smoking
The "Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study"
analysed smoking behaviour in adolescents from 35 European
countries, reveals that there is a dramatic increase in the
number of young people who reported having tried smoking between
the ages of 11 and 15.
"There is a dramatic increase of 11 to 15 year-olds smoking," says
Professor Luke Clancy, Chairman of Ash and Director General of the
Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society, "most young people
begin to experiment with tobacco products in young adolescence, but
what's shocking is that one in six 11 year-olds have tried at least
one cigarette in their lives. If these children don't manage to
quit, one in two will die as a result."
Reducing smoking in youth is a crucial task for tobacco control.
Several Member States in Europe have alarmingly high smoking
prevalence amongst young people. Among school going children in
Ireland, 19% are current smokers while 41% of the children (11-17
years of age) said they had smoked a cigarette. At the age of 15,
the lifetime prevalence has increased by more than four times to
62%. These results are especially alarming, since early onset
of smoking is one of the most important predictors for later
smoking and it also correlates with heavier smoking.
The main factors promoting smoking in young people are economic
and advertising.
"Easy access to tobacco, exposure to advertising and weak tobacco
control efforts are environmental factors encouraging young people
to start smoking," says Professor Clancy. "Since price is the
single most important factor in preventing children from starting
smoking, we missed a great opportunity to increase the price of
cigarettes in the last Budget, at a time when the Workplace Ban
suggested Ireland was getting serious about Tobacco Control".
Higher prices on cigarettes are extremely effective in preventing
young people from starting smoking, and reducing the number of
cigarettes they smoke. Advertising bans, which need to cover all
types of tobacco promotion, from branded ashtrays to billboards,
are a particularly effective way of helping the young to avoid
tobacco.
"Preventing the onset of smoking in young people would result in
the greatest population health gain," says Professor Clancy,
"however, the reasons why young people start smoking are complex.
We know about the influences on adolescent smoking, but why some
youth experiment and stop smoking, whereas others experiment and
progress to dependence remains unanswered. But clearly this is an
area where evidence based research is badly needed."
The HELP-campaign (www.help-eu.com) is dedicated to the reduction
of smoking in youth and addresses is targeted especially at young
people aged 15 and 18 and young adults aged 18 and 30.
The Tobacco Control Communications Network is represented in
Ireland by Prof Luke Clancy, ASH Ireland, Chris Fitzgerald, Health
Promotion Unit, Department of Health & Children, Norma
Cronin,Quitline and Carr Communications .
Background information:
- In Ireland, about 7,000 people a year die prematurely from
smoking related diseases - 10 times more than the number killed in
road accidents. Non-smokers have at least a 35% increased risk of
lung cancer.
- Smoking in pregnancy can cause miscarriage, reduced birth
weight for gestation and perinatal death.
- Over 30,525 smokers contacted the National Smokers Quitline
since it was launched in October 2003. A total of 49.9% of callers
were male and 50.1% were female. Calls from children and young
people in the 10-20 age group accounted for 9.40%.
- Where parents continue to smoke after pregnancy there is an
increased rate of sudden infant death syndrome. The nicotine is
believed to cause the babies' breathing and pulse to weaken.
- Smokers lose an average of 15 years life expectancy.
- Smoking in the presence of infants and children is a cause of
respiratory illness and asthmatic attacks. Middle ear disease
in children is also linked to environmental tobacco smoke.
- Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among men and
second most common cause of cancer death among women.