Posted Dec 17, 2011
Teenage smoking declined for the fourth consecutive year during 2011, according to the annual Monitoring the Future study released Wednesday.
The smoking rate was at 18.7 percent for 12th-graders, the lowest in the 36-year history of the study, which is conducted by University of Michigan researchers. The study measures tobacco usage over a 30-day period.
By comparison, the smoking rate among 12th-graders was 19.2 percent in 2010 and 29.5 in 2001. Nearly 20 percent of adult Americans smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study included about 47,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders from about 400 schools.
“This is very good news for the health and longevity of these young people,” said Lloyd Johnston, principal investigator of the study. “Even a reduction of only one percentage point can translate into thousands of premature deaths being prevented.”
Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said that the overall decline in teen smoking during 2011 was welcome news because the rate of decline had nearly stalled in recent years.
Myers said a further reduction in teen smoking will require elected officials to continue to push for “higher tobacco taxes, well-funded tobacco prevention and cessation programs that include mass media campaigns, strong smoke-free laws and effective regulation of tobacco products and marketing.”
The study also showed marijuana use is becoming more popular among U.S. teenagers, including reaching a 30-year high among 12th -graders at 22.6 percent. Synthetic marijuana, which became illegal in North Carolina on July 1, was added to the marijuana category in 2011.
However, alcohol use reached a historically low level of 40 percent in 2011. The study also found energy drinks are consumed by about 33 percent of teens, with the highest use among eighth- and 10th-graders.
Health and tobacco-industry officials have paid close attention to smokeless tobacco use in the past five years to determine whether overall tobacco use is declining or just shifting to other options.
The study found 8.3 percent of 12th-graders used the products within a 30-day period, down from 8.5 percent in 2010, but still up from a low of 6.1 percent in 2006.
The rate of use among eighth-graders was at 3.5 percent, down from 4.1 percent in 2010, while the use among 10th-graders dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.5 percent in 2010.
Most researchers and analysts said that it is too soon to tell whether the combination of new smokeless-tobacco products, particularly from subsidiaries of Reynolds American Inc., and recent advertising in magazines played a prominent role in the increases.
Among the more outspoken proponents of smokeless-tobacco products as reduced-risk alternatives has been Bill Godshall, executive director of SmokeFree Pennsylvania.
Godshall praised the decrease in teen smoking as “excellent news.” Besides most of the initiatives cited by Myers, Godshall also supports raising the smoking age to 19.
“It appears that more youth smokers, like adult smokers, are beginning to substitute smokeless tobacco for cigarettes,” Godshall said. “Since cigarettes are 100 times more hazardous than smokeless tobacco, public health benefits every time a smoker switches to smokeless, regardless of age.”
Dr. John Spangler, a professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said he remains concerned by the level of teens using smokeless tobacco products. Spangler is conducting a National Cancer Institute study that’s aimed at developing strategies to encourage reduced use or even quitting smokeless-tobacco products. Wake Forest received a $2.9 million grant for its study.
“What will happen to these smokeless tobacco users is a huge concern because a strong predictor of future smoking is past smokeless tobacco use,” Spangler said.
©2011 Winston-Salem Journal (Winston Salem, N.C.)