1 out of 5 high school students smoke cigarettes
Twenty percent of the teens are currently smoking cigarettes, according to CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. In 1999, 35% of high school students were smokers and now, a decade later, the number has dropped to about 20%. Although the rates have decreased since the 1990s, the number remains alarming.
The high teen smoking rates during the 1990s were due to extensive tobacco company promotional and advertisement efforts, implied in the report.
To control the tobacco industry from accessing youth with promotional activities, in 2009, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act granted the FDA more power to control with restrictions on the tobacco industry.
The report suggests a further restriction and reduction in tobacco advertising and availability to accelerate the rate of decline. Reducing the advertisement of advertising and its availability was proposed as one of the options to decrease the rate of smoking.
New rules that limit the marketing and promotional activities of cigarettes were instituted last month.