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New Study
Shows "State of the Union" on Youth Tobacco Use
More Than One-In-Ten
Middle School Students and a Third of High School Students Use Tobacco
Press Release
Results from
the 1999 National Youth Tobacco Survey, released today by the American
Legacy Foundation in collaboration with the CDC
Foundation with scientific and technical assistance from DHHS’
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that nearly 35 percent of
high school students and almost 13 percent of middle school students use
some form of tobacco.
This new study
is the first survey ever to examine tobacco use comprehensively among middle
and high school students nationwide and document all forms of tobacco use,
including cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars, pipes, and the increasingly
popular tobacco products bidis (tiny, flavored cigarettes from India) and
kreteks (also known as clove cigarettes) for students in grades 6 through
12. The survey was conducted in September and October 1999.
"The ‘State
of the Union’ on youth tobacco use is clearly not good," said Cheryl
Healton, Dr. P.H., who joined the Legacy Foundation as president and CEO
this month. "Tobacco use continues to be the leading preventable cause
of premature death in the United States, and we’re committed to
public-private partnerships and to working with state and local tobacco
control programs and the public health community to save the lives of
millions of Americans."
The survey
found that African American high school students (15.8 percent) were
considerably less likely to smoke cigarettes than white (32.8 percent) and
Hispanic (25.8 percent) high school students. However, African American
middle school students (9.0 percent) had cigarette smoking rates similar to
those for white (8.8 percent) and Hispanic (11.0 percent) middle school
students.
"We do
not know why there was no difference between smoking rates of African
American and other students in middle school, especially since African
American high school students smoke at much lower rates than their white and
Hispanic peers," said Lonnie Bristow, M.D., past president of the
American Medical Association and a member of the Legacy Foundation board.
"What we do know is that we must monitor this trend through future
research and hope to counter the appeal and social acceptance of tobacco use
among all young people."
Other
major findings of the survey:
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Cigars
were the second most preferred tobacco product used by middle and high
school students. Among middle school students, 6.1 percent reported
smoking cigars in the past month. African American middle school
students (8.8 percent) were significantly more likely to smoke cigars
than white students (4.9 percent). Cigar use among high school students
was 15.3 percent. An estimated one in 5 male students (20.3 percent) had
used cigars compared to about one in 10 female students (10.2 percent)
in the last month.
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Current
use of novel tobacco products, such as bidi and kretek cigarettes, is an
emerging public health problem among young people in the United States.
The use of either bidis (5.0 percent) or kreteks (5.8 percent) among
high school students nearly equaled the use of smokeless tobacco (6.6
percent).
"The
National Youth Tobacco Survey is unique because there is no other report
that provides data on young people’s use of the most common tobacco
products as well as emerging tobacco products," said Michael P. Eriksen,
Sc.D., director of the CDC Office on Smoking and Health. "The results
provide clear evidence that teenage tobacco use continues to be a major
public health problem and that states need to fully implement CDC’s ‘best
practice’ guidelines for comprehensive tobacco prevention and control
programs." To support state programs, Eriksen also called for
nationwide prevention efforts, enforcement of the proposed Food and Drug
Administration rules on tobacco, increases in the excise tax on tobacco
products, and greater availability of smoking cessation treatment options.
The American
Legacy Foundation was established in November 1998 as a result of the Master
Settlement Agreement between a coalition of Attorneys General in 46 states
and five United States territories and the tobacco industry. The Foundation’s
goals are to reduce youth tobacco use, reduce exposure to secondhand smoke,
increase successful quit rates, and decrease tobacco consumption among all
ages and populations.
The National
Youth Tobacco Survey was conducted by Macro International Inc., a nationally
recognized survey research firm based in Calverton, Md. It was administered
to more than 15,000 students with a 93 percent student response rate at 131
schools nationwide. Its 90 percent school response rate is the highest ever
reported for a school-based health survey. Results will be published in the Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) on January 28, 2000.
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