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Publication of Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health
The Surgeon General's report Preventing Tobacco Use Among
Young People(1) was released on February 24, 1994. This report
examines various aspects of adolescent behavior and is the first
Surgeon General's report to focus exclusively on tobacco use among
this age group.
The six major conclusions in the report are
Nearly all first use of tobacco occurs before high school
graduation; this finding suggests that if adolescents can be kept
tobacco-free, most will never start using tobacco.
Most adolescent smokers are addicted to nicotine and report that
they want to quit but are unable to do so; they experience relapse
rates and withdrawal symptoms similar to those reported by adults.
Tobacco is often the first drug used by those young people who
use alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs.
Adolescents with lower levels of school achievement, with fewer
skills to resist pervasive influences to use tobacco, with friends
who use tobacco, and with lower self images are more likely than
their peers to use tobacco.
Cigarette advertising appears to increase young people's risk of
smoking by affecting their perceptions of the pervasiveness, image,
and function of smoking.
Communitywide efforts that include tobacco tax increases,
enforcement of minors' access laws, youth-oriented mass media
campaigns, and school-based tobacco-use prevention programs are
successful in reducing adolescent use of tobacco.
Additional information about the report or a free copy of the
executive summary is available from CDC's Office on Smoking and
Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, Mailstop K-50, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Atlanta, GA
30341-3724; telephone (800) 232-1311. Copies of the full report
(stock no. 017-001-00491-0) can be purchased for $19 from the
Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402-9328; fax (202) 512-2250. The executive
summary of the report will be published as an MMWR Recommendations
and Reports.
Reference
US Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing tobacco
use among young people: a report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta:
US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service,
CDC, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 1994.
Disclaimer
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