More British Children
Trying Cigarettes: Survey

LONDON (Reuters Health) - The number of British kids who have tried cigarettes has increased significantly since the late 1980s, a new survey shows, although rates seem to have steadied over the past few years.

The poll found that in 2001, 40 percent of 12- and13-year-olds had tried a cigarette at least once, up from 30 percent in 1989. Among 14- and 15-year-olds, the figure rose from about 55 percent to 60 percent.

The survey, by the independent Schools Health Education Unit, measured trends in young people's attitudes toward smoking between 1983 and 2001.

Along with the rise in smoking experimentation is a parallel increase in kids who have smoked at least one cigarette in the past seven days, and a smaller rise in those who are regular smokers, said Dr. David Regis, a researcher who compiled the figures.

"Kids are smoking more now than they were 10 or 15 years ago," Regis told Reuters Health.

Around 6 percent of 12- to 13-year-olds and 22 percent of 14- to 15-year-olds currently report smoking regularly, according to the survey.

However, the survey also suggests that the increase in youth smoking may have peaked in the late 1990s and steadied since then.

"This more recent leveling-off also seems to be found in other people's figures," Regis said. "There's a suggestion in the official government statistics as well."

It is difficult to pinpoint what might have contributed to the slowing, he said. Government initiatives in schools, restrictions in cigarette advertising and the price of cigarettes could all have played a part.

It is illegal to sell cigarettes to children younger than 16, and the report indicates that declining numbers of kids buy cigarettes from a shop.

The poll also shows that more than half of the nearly 300,000 12- to 15-year-olds surveyed lived in a house where at least one person smoked indoors, increasing their chances of taking up the habit.

"If your parent smokes you're about twice as likely to smoke as someone whose parent doesn't smoke," Regis said.

This Wednesday marks Britain's 20th No Smoking Day, an annual campaign to encourage people to quit tobacco.

According to the charity that organizes the event, more than 80 percent of smokers take up the habit while in their teens, and about 450 children start smoking every day.

Reference Source 89

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