Young Smokers

There is known evidence that smoking when young, whether directly or passively, has a much more significant impact on future health than starting when a young adult. However, there is a major health risk associated with smoking irrespective of when smokers' start and half of all smokers will die prematurely due to smoking.

In the UK, about 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys at the age of 15 smoke. The higher proportion of girls smoking is thought to be due to the (false) assumption the smoking acts as an appetite suppressant and aids dieting. The current likelihood of boys and girls smoking has reversed from the statistics in the 1970s and 1980s when more secondary school boys smoked.

Whilst the likelihood of smoking in girls is biased as a result of their misconceptions of appetite suppression, boys or girls are three times more likely to smoke if their parents smoke. It is accepted that parental approval or disapproval does have an impact on the likelihood of children to take up smoking. However, it is the child's peer group and elder siblings that are the most influential on their take up of the habit.

Tobacco advertising, whilst not widely regarded as encouraging smoking within the tobacco industry itself has a significant impact on children smokers. Children are more likely to select a brand that is heavily advertised than one which is not. According to Charlton, White and Kelly in their paper "Boys' smoking and cigarette-brand sponsored motor racing", an interest in motor racing doubled the chance of the children fans becoming smokers! This strongly suggests that advertising will in fact influence whether or not children start smoking.

Smoking has definite detrimental health effects on children and known smokers have double to six fold increased likelihood of respiratory illnesses including coughs, phlegm, wheeziness and shortness of breathe. This results in significantly poorer attendance records for these children at school. It is also known that in non-smoking children exposed to secondary smoke i.e. passive smokers, there is an increased risk of bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma and other chronic respiratory illnesses.

Infants also suffer considerably from secondary smoke. This is compounded by the size of the children being smaller, the concentration of the toxins and carcinogens in cigarette smoke are extenuated. Babies, infants and children all have significantly increased likelihood of contracting cancer dependent upon the amount of time they have been exposed to secondary smoke. There is a directly proportional correlation between exposure and risk and as such babies risks are greatest, followed by infants then children.

The socio-economic background of children is a major determinant factor in whether or not children smoke themselves or are exposed to secondary smoke. Children from poorer backgrounds are not only more likely to have smoking parents and hence become more likely to smoke themselves. They also suffer more from secondary smoke as a result of their parents increased likelihood of smoking. It is in effect, a vicious circle.

Children are just as likely to become addicted to nicotine as adults the speed of nicotine addiction is just as prevalent, just as quickly in children as it is in adults. The one saving grace for children is that due to the high taxation placed on tobacco products in general, their limited disposable income restricts their ability to finance smoking. The proportion of children and young adults that never really start but actually quit smoking as a result of the financial burden is greater than that in older age groups where financial concerns are outweighed by health issues as the main motivation.

In a recent MORI poll, one third of children that smoke were found to have their first cigarette of the day within 30 minutes of getting up in the morning. 12% were found to smoke their first cigarette within 5 minutes rising! Of those asked, two thirds said that they would find it difficult to go a week without a cigarette and nearly 80% said they did not believe they would be able to stop smoking altogether. This last point emphasises the deep-seated assumption that it is hard to stop smoking which is repeated throughout all age groups.

Luckily, secondary smoke exposure in children is decreasing and has approximately halved since the 1980s. Despite this, one third of smokers continue to find it acceptable to smoke in front of children. According to a study in 1992 by the Royal College of Physicians in London, the resulting illnesses lead to an estimated 17,000 child admissions to hospital every year as a result of smoking related illness in th UK.

Smoking in front of children, particularly infants and babies is considered by some to be a form of child abuse. Infants and babies cannot escape from the secondary smoke and in the case of babies; they cannot even ask to get away from cigarette smoke! Children have the right to be protected from passive smoking and as such, parents must recognise that passive smoking causes ill-health in children and that they have a responsibility not to inflict harm on their children. The simplest way forward is to simply never smoke around children

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