Thursday, February 21, 2008 Study says 4 million Filipino youth are smokers
FOUR million Filipino youth are currently smokers, 2007 study commissioned by the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed.
The study titled Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by Marina Baquilod of the DOH National Epidemiology Center indicated that of the four million young smokers aged 11 to 19 years old, more than 60 percent or about 2.7 million are boys and 1.4 million are girls.
The study further showed that eight out of 10 saw pro-tobacco advertisement in 2007.
"By preventing our children from starting to smoke, we can reduce the impact of tobacco on our children," Baquilod said.
Maricar Limpin, executive director of the Framework on Tobacco Control of the Philippines Alliance, said the youth smokers in the country are projected to further increase if we will not impose regulations and one of these is the banning of the billboard or outdoor advertisement.
Compared to 2005, Limpin said the youth smokers are only 17 to 18 percent of the total smokers in the country, however it went up to 23 percent last year.
"This 23 percent could further increase in a matter of three years," Limpin said.
Section 22 of the Tobacco Control Act states that all tobacco outdoor advertisement shall be banned beginning July 1, 2007 and Limpin said so far only two areas in the country are imposing the ban.
She said only Davao City and Legazpi City are committed to impose the outdoor ads ban. (MSN/Sunnex)
