Young smokers follow parental lead

Young smokers follow parental lead

By Ronald Hutapea

JAKARTA (JP): Everywhere one turns, it seems a smoker is
lighting up. They also appear to be getting younger -- gangly
junior high school students puffing away on the sidewalks and at
bus stops are a common sight around the city.

Anti-smoking lobbies have made inroads in many Western and
industrialized countries, but the campaigns have fallen on deaf
ears in many parts of Asia.

Young people are taking up the smoking habit throughout this
continent. World Heath Organization (WHO) studies reveal smoking
is increasing among youths in Singapore, the Philippines, Japan,
Thailand and Indonesia. In Malaysia, studies found 70 percent of
teens had experimented with cigarettes, and nearly 50 percent of
teenagers had tried smoking by the age of 16 in Hong Kong. The
younger a person takes his or her first puff, the harder it is to
stop later on.

Studies have also been conducted in Indonesia, and the
findings are similarly gloomy. According to the Indonesian
Household Health Survey in 1986, 13.2 percent of males aged 12-15
years had adopted the habit. A previous study by Maimunah in 1980
found that experimentation with smoking was present in elementary
and even kindergarten students. A survey commissioned by the
Indonesian Heart Foundation in 1992 found that up to 50 percent
of Indonesian junior high school students smoked. More alarming
was Anwar Yusuf's 1993 study. He found that about 24 percent of
fifth and sixth grade students of elementary schools in East
Jakarta had smoked, or considered themselves smokers.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has come
down hard on the tobacco industry by attempting to regulate
cigarette products, facing equal opposition from the industry and
their political allies. Although tobacco-industry officials
charged the FDA didn't have the authority to regulate their
products, they agreed to a huge payout last week to shield them
from future litigation.

Beyond political considerations, the initiative of the FDA,
WHO and health administrations in many countries to bar minors
from smoking reflects bitter realities of addiction and health
hazards. Numerous studies show the vast majority of smokers pick
up the habit as children -- as many as 90 percent of adult
smokers are addicted before age 21.

All these findings appear to indicate smoking is looming as a
greater threat to society. It is not only an individual concern,
but a public health disease, and, more specifically, a pediatric
illness due to its effect on the young.

Advertising

Several countries have realized the need to check tobacco
advertising, especially campaigns directed at the young. They
have also imposed laws against selling cigarettes to minors.

Singapore and Thailand have implemented a total ban on
cigarette advertising in the media, and Hong Kong, Malaysia and
South Korea have partial bans. The Philippines and Indonesia are
among the holdouts where cigarette advertising is still big
business.

Tobacco advertising and promotional drives are not the only
reason why young people are lured into smoking. Psychologists,
educators and even tobacco advocates agree that more influential
factors are peer group pressure, rebellion and, most of all,
lack of parental guidance.

The family seems to be the central stage that is so important
in creating a perception of smoking as "okay" and acceptable as
children watch their parents and elders.

May 31 is annually observed as World No-Tobacco Day, and
Indonesia as a WHO member nation has always participated in this
campaign. But no statistical evaluation has been conducted on
whether this one-day event has contributed to a downturn in
smoking in Indonesia or other countries.

Hiroshi Nakayima, WHO director at an anti-tobacco campaign in
1995, said six trillion cigarettes are consumed every year and
tobacco in the cause of almost 20 percent of deaths in developed
countries. Every year tobacco causes the deaths of three million
men and women, or one death every 10 seconds.

With the current smoking trends, in 30-40 years the tobacco
epidemic will be responsible for 10 million deaths per year, with
70 percent of them occurring in developing countries, including
Indonesia. And more children will be part of this unfortunate
group, who are really not victims of disease but the quest for
profit.

Many sports and cultural events are heavily dependent on the
sponsorship of cigarette advertisers. The government needs to
partially or totally ban of cigarette advertising in all sports
and cultural activities, including those which has been so
cunningly labeled and packaged as "brand awareness" or "corporate
identity" promotions.

Real, concerted action is needed to lower the number of young
smokers. Seminars, infrequently scheduled talks and tentative
campaigns do no good. Smokers need help, not blame. Youngsters
need to be reminded of the danger, not just in lectures, but
through good examples. Tobacco advertisers who hint at fallacies
must be punished.

The government may stand to lose vast amounts of money if many
people stop smoking, but the overwhelmingly positive reward is
that Indonesia will have a healthier generation.

Dr. Ronald Hutapea, Ph.D is a general practitioner and health
educator in Jakarta.