Girls Closing the Smoking Gap with Boys

Source from:  tr.itsmyiq.com Aug 16, 2007 08/20/2007

Government anti-tobacco campaigns should target girls and women because surveys show the rate of smoking among teenage girls is now close to that among teenage boys in many nations, according to Foxnews.com quoting a report released at the 12th World Conference on Tobacco. The report said there were no significant differences between the cigarette smoking rates of 13- to 15-year-olds in more than half of the 150 countries surveyed. The results of the survey, the first of its kind, were similar for other tobacco products. "Programs specific to gender must be developed which emphasize the serious health consequences of tobacco use," Charles Warren, of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was quoted as saying. In the US, 17.7 per cent of boys are smokers compared with 17.8 per cent of girls, though in Europe the equivalent figures are 33.9 per cent and 29.0 per cent, and worldwide they are 15.0 per cent and 6.6 per cent. Enditem