It may be illegal to advertise cigarettes to kids, but tobacco companies are still trying to start kids on smoking because they know that once they hook them, it will be incredibly hard for them to quit.
A new Canadian study reports that tobacco marketers have found a way around tobacco advertising restrictions, by reaching teens through the retail shops located near high schools–and this strategy is working.
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Teenagers fear blindness more than lung cancer or stroke, but nine out of 10 don’t know that smoking can rob them of their sight in later life.
The findings are based on the responses of 260 clubbers aged between 16 and 18, collected at four places in the UK. One in five of the young women were daily smokers (21%), compared with around one in seven (15%) of the young men.
The teens were asked if they knew about the link between smoking and certain diseases, such as stroke, lung cancer, heart disease, and blindness. Deafness, which is not caused by smoking, was also included, as a way to balance out the responses. They were then asked to rank their fears of each disease.
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Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in the world. A reanalysis of amounts of nicotine in major brand name cigarettes sold in Massachusetts from 1997 to 2005 has confirmed what reseachers have long suspected: manufacturers have steadily increased the levels of this addictive substance in cigarettes, probably in order to make it harder to quit smoking.
An independent analysis, based on data submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health by cigarette manufacturers, found that increases in smoke nicotine yield per cigarette averaged 1.6% each year, or about 11% over the seven-year period of 1998-2005.
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We’ve asked this question before: why don’t we make more effort to break our bad habits? A new study of 154 smokers who had surgery to remove early stage lung cancer shows that half of them STARTED SMOKING AGAIN within 12 months of their operation, and more than one-third were smoking again after a year. 60% of the patients who started smoking again picked up a cigarette within two months of surgery.
Researcher Mark S. Walker says, “These patients are all addicted, so you cannot assume they will easily change their behavior simply because they have dodged this particular bullet. Their choices are driven by insidious cravings for nicotine.”
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