Active cigarette smoking during childhood and adolescence produces significant health problems among young people, including periodontal disease, chronic coughing, increased phlegm production, an increase in the number and severity of respiratory illnesses, decreased physical fitness, and potential retardation in the rate of lung growth and the level of maximum lung function. It is estimated that more than 3 million U.S. adolescents are cigarette smokers and more than 2,000 children under the age of 18 start smoking each day. If current patterns of tobacco use persist, an estimated 6.4 million children will die prematurely from a smoking-related disease. Cigarette companies spend more that $15.1 billion annually (or $41 million daily) to promote cigarette smoking, with much of the marketing directly targeting children. For more information on children and smoking, go to www.tobaccofreekids.org and www.cdc.gov.
Big Tobacco's Guinea Pigs: How an Unregulated Industry Experiments on America's Kids and Consumers - Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this report was issued by the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids, the Cancer Action Network, the American Heart & Stroke Association and the American Lung Association. It provides compelling insight on how the tobacco industry manipulates products deign and uses health and other marketing claims to endanger the lives of youth and consumers in America.
(2008: 59 pages)
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