More Work Needed To Stop Youth Tobacco Use

RICHMOND, VA. — More work needs to be done to keep young Americans from using tobacco, including creating smoking bans and increasing taxes on tobacco products, the US Surgeon General’s office said in a report released March 8.

Almost one in five high school-aged teens smokes, down from earlier decades, but the rate of decline has slowed, the report said.

It says it is particularly important to stop young people from using tobacco because those who start smoking as teenagers can increase their chances of long-term addiction. They also quickly can develop reduced lung function, early heart disease and other health problems.

More than 80 percent of smokers begin by age 18 and 99 percent of adult smokers in the United States start by age 26, according to the 920-page report, which is the first comprehensive look at youth tobacco use from the surgeon general’s office in nearly two decades.

“In order to end this epidemic, we need to focus on where we can prevent it and where we can see the most effect, and that’s with young people,” Surgeon General Regina Benjamin said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We want to make our next generation tobacco-free, and I think we can.”

The report details youth tobacco use, health impacts, and tobacco marketing and prevention efforts in the United States. Officials hope the information will reinvigorate anti-tobacco efforts and spark public activism in reducing death and disease caused by tobacco use.

The report also recommended antismoking campaigns and increased restrictions under the US Food and Drug Administration’s authority to regulate tobacco as other ways to prevent adolescents and young adults from using tobacco products.

Ms Benjamin did not point fingers on why youth tobacco use continues in the United States. Instead, she wants to see how the nation as a whole can best address the issue, she said.

“I don’t want to focus on blame, I want to focus on prevention,” she said. “I want to make sure we’re doing everything that we can to prevent kids from ever starting to smoke or use tobacco products.”

The surgeon general’s office last issued a report on youth tobacco use in 1994, the first wide-ranging report on the topic by federal health officials. The new report is the 31st issued by US surgeons general to warn the public about tobacco’s risks. The first report in 1964 declared tobacco to be deadly.