In the past decade, legislative initiatives and the shifting of
social norms have caused a noticeable decrease in the smoking
prevalence among all groups, except for one: the college aged.
Smoking among individuals ages 18 to 24 has steadily been on the
rise, as other age groups show trends of kicking the habit.
Public health researchers and studies by the California
Department of Health Services show this trend might be due to the
marketing efforts of the tobacco industry, among other factors.
“Most of the prevention focus has been on younger persons
““ adolescents and high school students,” said William
McCarthy, a UCLA professor in psychology and public health.
“The efforts to get people to quit have focused on older
adults.”
With these efforts directed at opposite ends of the age
spectrum, it appears that the middle age group of 18- to
24-year-olds had not been receiving either message.
“There’s been this kind of limbo area,”
McCarthy said. “(The tobacco) industry is taking advantage of
this vacuum.”
In 2001, 56.7 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds could recall seeing
a cigarette ad in the past 30 days, as compared to only 40.8
percent of those 25 and older, according to the California
Department of Health Services.
“Youth or young adults are looking for ways to build up
self confidence, and the industry has capitalized on this anxiety
by providing images of the Marlboro cowboy,” he said.
“The industry knows that image is disproportionately
attractive to young adults.”
Statistics like these are disturbing to McCarthy, who has also
been an active volunteer for the American Cancer Society for over
20 years.
This week, the UCLA chapter of Colleges Against Cancer,
affiliated with the society, observed Lung Cancer Awareness Week in
recognition of the leading cancer among men and women in the United
States.
Lung cancer claims more lives than cancers of the breast,
prostate and colon combined, but has received less attention from
the media and from research funding agencies.
According to the American Lung Association, smoking is related
to 87 percent of lung cancer cases.
Approximately 70 percent of adult smokers try to quit every
year, McCarthy said, but the tobacco industry continues a
relentless marketing campaign.
McCarthy himself has come face-to-face with tobacco company
representatives in on-air debates on the radio.
“They’ve got a message and they’re on that
message,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much
data you throw at them, … no matter how many dead bodies you can
show are associated with the use of this product.”
McCarthy eventually stopped agreeing to participate in the
debates because he felt it simply supplied a forum for the tobacco
company to drill the same messages: Nicotine is not addictive,
smoking is not associated with the consumption of other drugs like
alcohol.
Sometimes, McCarthy recalls, the representative would
immediately retract his points after the radio microphones had been
turned off.
“Reason is not a dimension that they’re using in
evaluating what kinds of messages they’re
disseminating,”
of messages they’re disseminating,” he said.
“For them, all that seems to matter is profits.”
But, efforts in smoking cessation have been relatively
successful in California when compared to the rest of the country,
McCarthy said.
“Los Angeles has one of the lowest lung cancer rates in
the U.S. despite its dirty air,” he said. “It pales in
the damage that can be caused by smoking.”
Tobacco Free Nurses, a national initiative, has directed its
attention at the largest group of health care professionals.
“Nurses can be very effective in helping patients with
smoking cessation,” said Linda Sarna, a professor in the
School of Nursing who helped launch the initiative.
“But if they are smoking themselves, they are less likely
to be effective.”
The program has harnessed the power of the Internet to provide
smoking cessation services and a digital community for nurses who
are trying to quit.
In many hospitals, funds that were once spent to create
so-called “butt huts” ““ designated smoking areas
for health care providers and patients ““ are now being used
for smoking cessation efforts and the establishment of a smoke-free
environment, Sarna said.
Anti-tobacco initiatives recently made an official entrance onto
the global level as the World Health Organization’s Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control was ratified by 40 countries.
Worldwide, tobacco is the second-major cause of death, the World
Health Organization reported.
The convention will set international standards on tobacco
prices, advertisements and cigarette package labels.
For the current 650 million individuals who smoke around the
world, the seemingly daunting task of quitting completely can be
taken gradually.
“Even if you can’t quit now, there are ways that you
can set the stage by making improvements in other health domains
like eating fruits and vegetables or exercising,” McCarthy
said.
“Those smokers who are more likely to quit and remain quit
for the rest of their lives are those who exercise and eat more
healthfully,” he added.