Cigarette Smoking Among Teenagers
| HEALTH-PHILIPPINES
Young Lives Up in Smoke
By Kara Santos | MANILA, Feb 15, 2010 (IPS) - Whether they choose to light up their first cigarette on their own or are unwitting victims of passive smoking, Filipino youth are increasingly at risk from tobacco exposure.
"The younger a child starts to smoke, the greater the chances of becoming a regular smoker," said Dr Maricar Limpin, executive director of the non- government group Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP), during a media forum on tobacco use in the Philippines, held on Feb. 12 in the Philippine capital Manila. "The youth are being specifically targeted by the tobacco industry as future customers."
Among Filipino youth aged 13 to 15 years, three in 10 currently use tobacco products, smoke cigarettes, chew tobacco and use ‘shisha’ (a water pipe for smoking), which is gaining popularity in Mid-Eastern restaurants in select urban areas in the country.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) "messages that tobacco kills is not very relevant to young smokers, who believe themselves to be immortal. By the time they understand the health risks and are ready to quit smoking, addiction has taken hold."
Furthermore, young people are regularly exposed to second-hand and even third-hand smoke, the residue left in a room after someone smokes, which often sticks to furniture and clothes. Infants and young children who play with items that have been exposed to cigarette smoke can eventually develop asthma and other smoking-related diseases.
Based on the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), a school-based survey that tracks tobacco use among young people across the world, the Philippines has one of the highest percentages of young smokers across Asian countries. About 30 percent of adolescents in the Philippines' urban areas smoke. Of these, more than 70 percent started smoking between the ages of 13 and 15.
The GYTS was developed by the WHO and the
Young Lives Up in Smoke
By Kara Santos | MANILA, Feb 15, 2010 (IPS) - Whether they choose to light up their first cigarette on their own or are unwitting victims of passive smoking, Filipino youth are increasingly at risk from tobacco exposure.
"The younger a child starts to smoke, the greater the chances of becoming a regular smoker," said Dr Maricar Limpin, executive director of the non- government group Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP), during a media forum on tobacco use in the Philippines, held on Feb. 12 in the Philippine capital Manila. "The youth are being specifically targeted by the tobacco industry as future customers."
Among Filipino youth aged 13 to 15 years, three in 10 currently use tobacco products, smoke cigarettes, chew tobacco and use ‘shisha’ (a water pipe for smoking), which is gaining popularity in Mid-Eastern restaurants in select urban areas in the country.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) "messages that tobacco kills is not very relevant to young smokers, who believe themselves to be immortal. By the time they understand the health risks and are ready to quit smoking, addiction has taken hold."
Furthermore, young people are regularly exposed to second-hand and even third-hand smoke, the residue left in a room after someone smokes, which often sticks to furniture and clothes. Infants and young children who play with items that have been exposed to cigarette smoke can eventually develop asthma and other smoking-related diseases.
Based on the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), a school-based survey that tracks tobacco use among young people across the world, the Philippines has one of the highest percentages of young smokers across Asian countries. About 30 percent of adolescents in the Philippines' urban areas smoke. Of these, more than 70 percent started smoking between the ages of 13 and 15.
The GYTS was developed by the WHO and the