Here is a piece of current legislation proposed to address the issue:
H.R.1432:To reduce youth usage of tobacco products, to enhance State efforts to eliminate retail sales of tobacco products to minors, and for other purposes.
Who is Affected by the Issue?
Minors along with the tobacco industry are both affected by this issue. The CDC estimates that 20% of high school aged kids smoke and that 1,000 new persons under the age of 18 become regular smokers everyday (
CDC). It's hard to say who wins and loses because it depends on your stance on the issue. From my perspective, since I think adolescent tobacco use is a negative thing, adolescents are losing when the tobacco industry targets them with marketing or when the clerk at a convenience store doesn't check an i.d. They are losing their health, and often gaining negative social stereotypes and stigmas. The tobacco company are the winners in this situation. They are making money off of those who are not even of legal age to purchase their products, and on top of that they are trying to make loyal customers out of these minors.
What are the Consequences?
The are many obvious health consequences related to using tobacco products, which many of us are well versed in by now. Although most individuals our age know about the dangers of using tobacco products, this isn't always the case with minors. Also hooking younger and younger kids on smoking and creating more and more life-long users is a drain on our health system. After all, tobacco use is the single most cause of preventable disease and death in the U.S (
CDC).
Worldwide, smoking is the cause of over 5 million deaths a year (
CDC).
What are the Social and Economic Impacts?
I touched on the economic impact a tiny bit when I talked about smoking being a drain on the health system. It is estimated that annually $96 billion in health-care spending is attributed to tobacco use (
MIT). This cost doesn't even cover another important economic issue. That being a loss of productivity. That cost is somewhere in the neighborhood of $97 billion (
CDC). There are other related costs as well that are easy to forget. Take the billions of dollars that are spent each year on smoking cessation aids like over-the-counter and prescription medications, counseling, and clinical treatments. The tobacco industry is also spending money, and a lot of it is spent on advertising. In 2005, tobacco spending in advertising and promotions reached 13 billion dollars (
CDC).
Something that is responsible for 1/5 of the deaths in the U.S. each year has a colossal social impact (CDC). Those deaths not only represent smokers, but those who died from second hand smoke as well. Second hand smoke exposure is actually responsible for an estimated 49,000 deaths each year (CDC). Second hand smoke has also been linked to SIDS. For these and many other reasons our society has been making changes and moving toward more smoke free public environments. You can no longer smoke in many bars, restaurants, or work places.
What are the Barriers?
The tobacco industry itself is the largest barrier on this issue. It's an immensely wealthy entity and with great wealth comes great power. They have lobbyist who can pay politicians huge sums for their campaigns and in return these politicians make decisions that bode well for the tobacco industry.
Another barrier to success is human behavior. It is very hard to change human behavior and smoking is one of the most addictive behaviors you can think of. Minors often begin smoking thinking that they will be able to stop at will (MIT). These minors may end up to be life-long smokers and some of the tobacco industries loyalest customers. An estimated 40% of smokers try to quit each year, but few are successful (
CDC). It's estimated that as low as 8% of smokers successfully quit long-term (
MIT).
What are the Resources?
If you check out the CDC website there are a lot of cool resources. you can find tons of information and facts about smoking in general, along with smoking risks for specific populations. You can also find cool links to things like the Media Campaign Resource Center (
MCRC) which give you access to a whole bunch of ads and other campaign materials. The MCRC basically helps you develop a media plan that will be taylored towards your specific audience and localize advertising materials.
There are endless amounts of resources of smoking cessation. Look online. look on tv, look on a billboard and you will see them. Here is a few really unique anti-smoking ads:
click here! Here is a really graphic ad campaign ran in Australia:
check it out
Who are the Allies and Opponents?
The tobacco industry is the largest opponent. Although there are laws against advertising to minors they get away with it using Internet marketing on sites like Facebook and Myspace that are primary geared towards younger users. The tobacco industry also has a lot of power and influence because they have to available funds to buy protection. They buy protection from politicians when they give them campaign money insuring their best interests.
Politicians, those who have been elected to represent what "we the people" want and who are in charge of making changes for the better are supposed to be our allies. And yet states have billions of dollars available to them (from tobacco taxes) for preventing and controlling tobacco use and over 95% of it goes untouched (
CDC). In 2004 $24.9 billion was available to the states from taxes and settlements and only 3% was used (
CDC).
My Recommendation:
My recommendation would be to support the piece of legislation proposed at the top of this blog. It may be a small step towards eliminating the use of tobacco products by minors, but at least it's a step in the right direction.
Posts
