National Health Goal for Reducing Teen Smoker Percentage Has Failed

Perhaps you can remember a time when Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man could be found on basic television stations and popular magazines? Billboards, sometimes purposefully positioned near schools, also displayed images of cigarette mascots, attractive people, and what some considered “cool” marketing slogans. Those times are a thing of the past. However, researchers claim teens are still getting the message that smoking is cool. So, where are they getting this message if tobacco companies are no longer allowed to advertise near school campuses, on basic television, or in popular magazines?

A spokesperson for the CDC says the popularity of hookah bars and smokeless nicotine products are the modern equivalent of the banned Joe Camel cartoon. And, some experts are worried that the new childhood obesity campaign spearheaded by Michelle Obama is affecting the donation numbers to antitobacco campaigns—that these two campaigns are at competition for funds.

In the biannual survey of 10,000 students released by the CDC, 19.5% were listed as smokers. In 2003, the smoking rate was 21.9%, down from 34.8% in 1995. This data displays that, since 2003, progress has slowed considerably. With a lagging antismoking campaign, it is estimated that the total smoking rate will only decline to 16% by 2020, and stabilize at 13.5% after midcentury unless more is done to bring attention to the health risks.

The CDC reports that one-third of high school smokers are expected to die prematurely of tobacco-related disease. The difference between the current percentage of teen smokers and the “Healthy People 2010” goal set by the government 10 years ago amounts to an additional 140,000 student smokers, and 46,000 premature deaths for each high school class nationally.

“At a time when all eyes are focused on health care reform, escalating medical costs, and childhood obesity, cigarette smoking remains by far the most common cause of preventable death and disability in the U.S., “ the CDC stated. “The prevalence of smoking in the U.S. hovers at 20%, more than 8 million people are sick or disabled as a result of tobacco use, and smoking kills 450,000 Americans annually.”