STUDY – Youth and smokes
Posted Jan 27, 2011 06:05:06 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A University of Waterloo study is sending a lot of ideas of about youth and cigarettes up in flames.
The Youth Smoking Survey heard from over 50,000 youth in Grades 6 through 12, and UW Health Studies professor, David Hammond, tells 570 News it is the most reliable source of information they have on tobacco use.
Hammond says about 9 out of 10 youth smokers are getting brand name cigarettes from stores, despite the ban on selling cigarettes to minors.
He says that shows something about government efforts to keep cigarettes out of the hands of youth.
Hammond says despite claims by the cigarette industry that they do not market their products to kids, this study adds to the evidence of other studies showing cigarette brand marketing appeals to kids the same way it appeals to young adults.
In fact brand marketing, he says, is just as effective on youth, if not more so, as it is with the average 40- or 50-year old established smoker.
The study was conducted on behalf of Health Canada.
Hammond says 13 per cent of all Canadian youth between 15 and 19 years old smoke.
Neither Rothmans Inc. nor Imperial Tobacco have replied to a request by 570 News for a comment on the study.
