The number teenagers who smoke cigarettes has dropped significantly in the past decade, but state health officials say new statistics show that young people are now smoking candy-flavored cigars instead.
It jeopardizes all of the gains we have made in terms of tobacco use. Cigarette smoking among middle and high school students dropped 39 % from 2000 to 2010, according to results of a survey. Cigar use increased by more than 11 percent during the same time period.
A decade ago, 12.5 % under age 18, said they had smoked a cigar in the last 30 days, while 23 % had smoked a cigarette. That gap narrowed last year when 14 % of young people had smoked a cigar in the last 30 days and 14 % percent had smoked a cigarette.
It has been argued that tobacco companies lure teens into buying the cigars with colorful packaging and flavors like strawberry, peach, mango or chocolate that cover up the taste of the tobacco. The cigars are also sold individually, for less than a dollar, an amount that many children and teens can afford.
Teenagers don't believe cigars have the same health risks as cigarettes. State health officials said that cigars have more tobacco than cigarettes, so they burn longer and give off greater amounts of secondhand smoke, and put people at risk for ailments such cancer, emphysema and infertility.
Several attempts at the state and local level to ban the sale of the flavored cigars or to require that they be sold in larger packets to drive up the cost, have failed. The Food and Drug Administration banned the sale of flavored cigarettes nationally in 2009, but not cigars.
It's not just about cigarettes and cigars. It's about health.
The $125,000 campaign funded by federal stimulus money will start in mid-December. It features a picture of children chasing after an ice cream truck with a giant cigar on the roof.
The message on the advertisement reads: "Warning: Cigars are sold in the same flavors and prices as ice cream. No matter how they sugarcoat it, cigars kill."
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