3A
NEWS/tEte Ctarlotte $ot
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Youth smoking decline slowing
Continued from page 1A
rettes has been decelerating
over the past several years;
and in 2005 the decline halted
among eighth graders, who
have been the bellwethers of
smoking among teens.”
The percentage of teen
smokers reported by MTF in
January 2005 was 25 p^x^t
of 12th graders, 16 percent of
10th graders and 9 percent of
8th graders. In comparison,
the current rates are 23 per
cent of 12th graders (two per
centage points lower), 15 per
cent of 10th graders (one per
centage point lower), and 9
percait of 8th graders (the
same as last year).
The MTF study paid for by
grants fix)m the National
Institute on Drug Abuse, was
conducted by an annual sur
vey of representative samples
of approximatdy 50,000 stu
dents around the nation in
grades eight, 10th, 11th and
12th, in 400 secondary
schools. The survey asks the
students if they have smoked
within the past 30 days.
Rather tight than quit
Over the past decade, the
rates had, for the most part,
steadily dedined, sometimes
leaping as much as four per
centage points fium one year
to the next. But, the gradual
slowing of the decline has
given anti-tobacco advcx:ates
cause for m^jor concern
“In the 30 years that this
study now spans, we have
seen some wide fluctuations
in the smoking habits of
American young people,”
states Lloyd Johnson, the
study’s lead researcher. “We
are still sedng some residual
dedines in smoking in the
upper grades, as the lower-
smoking birth cohorts make
their way up the age spec
trum. ,. But, even in the upper
grades a slowdown is cxxnar-
ring, and we believe the
declines are likely to end very
soon”
The overall high school
smoking rate for black stu
dents is 14 percent, compared
to 26 percent fco- whites. The
CDC reports that the 14 per
cent for Afiican-Americans is
a m^jor reduction from 22
percent six years ago. That’s
one reason the slowing of the
traid is so disappointing to
health and anti-tobacco advo
cates.
The study states that the
slowing decline is in large
part because of the failure of
states to use mcmey provided
by the 1998 Master
Settlement Agreement
between attorneys general
from 46 states, five U.S. toii-
tories and the tobacco indus
try that’s supposed to address
youth smoking and help
smokes who want to quit.
“Only a handful of states
have used this money for its
intended purpose,” says
Cherji Healton, president
and chief execnitive of the
American Legacy
Foundation, the nation’s only
foundation solely focused on
tobacco prevention and cessa
tion.
Healton also says a clause
in the agreement allowed the
tobacco industry to stop pay
ments into a National Public
Education Fund in 2003,
effectively cutting funding for
Legacy’s “TVuth” campaign,
the only national youth tobac
co-prevention initiative not
directed or controlled by the
tobacco industry
The 5-year-old Iriith cam
paign is the laigest national
youth-smoking-prevention
campaign and the only
national campaign not direct
ed by the tobacco industry It
exposes inside information
about the tobacco industry,
facts about addiction, health
effects and social conse
quences of smoking in order
to help te«is make informed
choices about tobacco use.
“At a time when only four
states — Colorado, Delaware,
Maine and Mississippi *-have
allocated tobacco prevaition
and cessation budgets at rec
ommended CDC levels, the
industry spent $15.4 billion in
2003, according to the U.S.
Federal TVade Commission,”
Healton says in a statement
in response to the MTF study
“That means that for every
dollar the United States
spends on tobacco prevention,
the tobacco industry is paying
$28 [million a day] to market
its deadly products — a fact
that paints a bleak picture for
the health of our nation.”
Legacy, National Afiican-
American Tbbacco Prevention
Network the National Latino
Coimcil on Alcohol and
Tobacco Prevention, and
other anti-tobacco advocates
have engaged in heated bat
tles against youth smoking
including a campaign against
flavored cigarettes, which
they see particularly targeted
black teens to get them
hooked. Eighty percent of
smokers start before the age
of 18, according to the CDC.
Meanwhile, the tobacco
industry continues to do dam
age, Healton states.
“Tbbacco use kills 1200
Americans every day and
450,000 eveiy year. More peo
ple die fium tobacco-related
diseases than fix)m AIDS,
alcohol use, drugs, fires, car
accidents, murders and sui
cides combined,” says
Healton. ‘Tt is the nation’s
leading preventable cause of
death.”
In 2004, the American
Legacy Foundation awarded
a $4.5 million, three-year
grant to a coalition of six
national Afiican-American
organizations — the National
Newspaper Publishers
Association Foundation, the
NAAC^, the National Urban
League, the Congressional
Black Caucus Foundation,
the National Conference of
Black Mayors and the
National Association of
Neighborhoods - to help curb
tobacco use among Afiican-
Americans.
How to butt out
In response to the study,
Legacy issued a statement
making three recommenda
tions that the public health
community and the commu
nity in general can take to
continue reducii^ youth
smoking:
• Encourage the states’
commitment to spending
tobaccx) settlement dollars to
youth smoking-prevention
campaigns and to educate
people on how to quit.
• Find a way to restore the
National Public Education
Fund. A shift in tobacco sales
market share allowed the
tobacco industry to stop pay
ments to this fund established
in the Master Settlement
Agreement. As a result, limit
ed funding is now available
for the Triith program, credit
ed for 22 percent of the overall
decline in youth smoking
between 2000 and 2002,
when the campaign was fully
funded.
• (Ibntinue to document the
impact of smoking in the
movies on American youth. A
new study released just last
month in the journal,
Pediatrics, showed that more
than one-third of American
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adolescents between 10 and
14 years of age started smok
ing as a direct result of expo
sure to smoking in films
Legacy recommends that
keeping smoking out of
movies rated G, PG, and PG-
13 movies could prevent
smoking among youth.
But despite the well-publi
cized statistics on tobacco
deaths, Adams — a smoker
since his mid-teens - appears
to be a participant in the new
and dangerous trend of hold
ing on to the habit,
‘1 don’t know,” he einswers
nonchalantly about the possi
bility of quitting. ‘Tve thou^t
about it.”
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McCrorey Family
YMCA
presents
I2.th AiapPvu.«L
M«idiiAp Luther kiiAp0,Jr.
PRAyUR- BRUAlCFASr
Monday, January 16, 2006
Hilton Hotel
222 E. 3rd Street
(Between College and Brevard Streets)
Doors Open at 6:30 a.m.
Program Begins at 6:45 a.m.
Ke^vy.ote speafeer
Kt\A^s>to\A^J.
President, Dream Builders Communications
Kenston Griffin is a dynamic motivational speaker and trainer who has
addressed an array of audiences nationwide. Mr. Griffin’s primary goal is
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Ticket Price $20.00 • Open Seating
For tickets call: 704-716-6500
McCrorey YMCA
3801 Beatties Ford Road
(A portion of the ticket price Is tax deductible)