Teenagers find it hard to quit smoking

The study, published online in the American Journal of Public Health, has found that teenagers who make a serious attempt to quit smoking are usually unsuccessful. The findings of this study are based on the data collected from 319 participants who recorded their smoking habits for 5 years.

The study reveled that out of the 319 teenagers 70% wanted to quit smoking but only 19 % were actually successful and did manage to stop smoking for more than 12 months. It was found that females were more likely to quit smoking or at least attempted to so, than the males.

Jennifer O’ Loughlin Université de Montréal and also the co-author of the study said “teenagers really want to quit smoking and there is an urgent need to implement and develop tobacco control interventions.”

The participants who took part in the 5 years study were aged 12 to 13 years when they enrolled at the beginning of the study. For the non smoker who had their first puff it took 9 months to become monthly smokers, 19 months to become weekly smoker and about 23 months to become daily smokers.

The results of the study clearly indicate that no matter how hard the teenagers try to quit smoking only a few are actually successful. According to Canadian Cancer Society, senior analyst, Rob Cunningham there is more that need to be done to help teenagers quit smoking trough legislation, programming and even taxation. He pointed out that the government need to get the situation under control and making the cigarettes costlier could encourage teenagers to stop smoking. Source

Anti-Smoking PSAs on DVDs

Six major film studios have agreed to include anti-smoking public service announcements on DVDs rated G, PG, and PG-13, in an attempt to discourage children from smoking. The PSAs will be produced by the California Health and Human Services Agency, and were proposed by the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a non-profit that aims to reduce the presence of tobacco on the big screen (or, in this case, the smaller one).

The foundation also proposed an R rating for any film that depicts smoking, but was unsuccessful.

"This is a strong and responsible step on the part of the entertainment industry that will go a long way toward countering the influence of tobacco use in films," said Kim Belshe, secretary of the California Health and Human Services. "With this agreement, we will be able to promote the benefits of living tobacco-free to millions of viewers at no cost to taxpayers, while encouraging important conversations between parents and their children about the dangers of smoking."

You can expect to see these PSAs in the opening minutes of DVDs soon, or view them online here.