Some fifty years after the surgeon general’s report linking smoking to cancer, tobacco continues to be the leading preventable cause of disease, disability and death in the United States. Last year more than 443,000 Americans died as a result of tobacco use! And, another 8.6 million live with a serious illnesses caused by smoking.
To get an idea of how many 443,000 deaths are, consider the recently grounded Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It can carry 290 passengers, add the crew, and it flies with just over 300 people. Four hundred, forty three thousand yearly deaths means about 1,214 deaths daily. Which means four of these big jets would have to fall out of the sky every day to kill the number of people who die daily from tobacco use! Can you imagine the effect that type of tragedy would have on air travel? Yet intelligent Americans continue to smoke, sell or give cigarettes to their kids, and subsidize the tobacco growers!
According to a the CDC 20% of USA adults smoke tobacco, and 90 % of them started before they were 18 years old! The CDC surveyed 228 schools and found that 7% of middle school students and 23% of high schoolers reported current use of tobacco!
And while only 20% of adults smoke, 48% of parents who bring their kids to an emergency room smoke. The obvious reason is that smoking, even passive smoke, is a major contributor to illness. Asthma, for instance, affects approximately 9 million kids and 53% of their parents smoke! Ear infections, sinusitis, and bronchitis, are three more of the common diseases in children linked to second hand smoke.
In my mind the solution must take a two pronged approach. First we must attack adult smoking with extensive education, and intensive smoking cessation programs. But, unless we simultaneously invest time, money and energy in preventing teens from starting smoking we will make little progress.
There are countless smoking cessation programs for adults. Every state has a free program, “quitline” which can be accessed by calling 1-800-QUITNOW. Other free programs are offered at www.smokefree.gov or via text at “txt2guit”. If you smoke or know someone who does, please let them know about these programs.
The World Health Organization recommends the following interventions to help kid avoid smoking:
- Increasing the price of all tobacco products
- 100% comprehensive smoke- free policies in schools, workplaces and public spaces.
- Warning about the dangers of all tobacco products on TV, radio, the Internet, and other media.
- Enforcing restrictions on all tobacco-product ads, promotion, and sponsorships.
I would add:
- Health education for all grades with emphasis on the harmful effects of tobacco, marijuana, alcohol and drugs.
- Stopping all subsidies to tobacco growers and processors.
- Parenting courses geared to helping parents restrict and enforce those restrictions.
- Peer groups dedicated to teaching each other the risks and dangers of smoking
- A tax on all tobacco products to pay for these interventions.
However, as great as these policy chances might be, they would take years to implement and most likely never happen. So in the meantime, know that the biggest deterrent to teen smoking is parents who do not smoke, and kids knowing parents disapprove of smoking. So, live the kind of life you want your kids to live; be the person you want them to become.Lead by example! You lead, they follow.