Canada: Teen Smoking Rate Drops By A Third Over 5-Year Span [08/10/04]

Canada: Teen Smoking Rate Drops By A Third Over 5-Year Span [08/10-1]

Excerpts from: Smoking among teens plummets by a third over five-year span

By CHRIS LACKNER The Globe and Mail [08/10/04]

Smoking among Canadian teenagers has decreased dramatically in the past five years, but experts warn that drop may just mean young people are waiting a bit longer before taking up the habit.

The smoking rate among 15- to 19-year-olds dropped to 18 per cent in 2003 from 28 per cent in 1999, according to a Health Canada survey released yesterday. Teen smoking rates have fallen below that of the general population -- which held steady at approximately 21 per cent -- for the first time in almost a decade.

While Health Canada trumpeted the decrease, some anti-smoking groups said it could be sugarcoating an alarming trend. Young adults have replaced teenagers as the major target of tobacco advertising, said Francis Thompson, a policy analyst for the Non-Smokers' Rights Association. "Tobacco companies are certainly putting more effort into advertising for older age groups -- particularly the university crowd."

Teen smoking rates have likely decreased thanks to smoking restrictions in public places such as school yards, coffee shops and work environments, he added.

But the social environment and greater freedoms afforded university and college students have made them prime tobacco targets. Many have their own residences and vehicles, which offer them a private environment to embrace the habit.

Tobacco companies have focused their advertising budget on young adults by subtly sponsoring events at bars and clubs -- often using human advertisers such as "cigarette girls" to hand out free samples of their product, said Sharon Lawler, co-director of Leave The Pack Behind, an anti-smoking information group for Ontario's university and college students.

Ms. Lawler said the implementation of increasingly harsher provincial and municipal smoking laws may affect young adults' future habits. Many cities now ban smoking in bars and clubs -- a setting in which many young adults partake in part-time or "social" smoking.

While anti-smoking experts focused on the vulnerability of young adults, Health Canada said the new numbers reflected the success of their four-year Federal Tobacco Strategy. Murray Kaiserman, director of surveillance and evaluation for Health Canada's Tobacco Control Program, said government-funded mass media campaigns and school-based programs have reached their intended audience.

"We're seeing a new generation of Canadian youth who view smoking very differently than their parents did . . . they don't view smoking as a socially acceptable phenomenon," Dr. Kaiserman said.

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