A World Without Smoking

The American Lung Association (ALA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) partnered to sponsor World No Tobacco Day this week to bring attention to the harmful effects of tobacco use and highlighting the ways in which the marketing tactics of tobacco manufacturers target women and girls.

The World Health Organization called for more action against tobacco advertising that targets women and girls, especially in developing countries.

Females represent the biggest potential growth market for tobacco products and are being subjected to aggressive campaigns linked to fashion, sports events and entertainment, the United Nations agency said.
A recent example is R.J. Reynolds' Camel No. 9 cigarettes’ marketing campaign was a hit with girls ages 12 to 16, according to a study of a 1,000 teens published in Pediatrics. R.J. Reynolds has since stopped marketing the brand in print.

Being able to remember a tobacco ad shows that kids are taking an interest in cigarettes, says co-author John Pierce of the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego. Non-smoking teens who can name a favorite ad are 50% more likely to begin smoking than other kids, the study suggested. Anti-smoking advocates such as the American Cancer Society that portraying smoking as fashionable makes the habit more alluring to teens, especially girls. About 80% of smokers take up the habit before age 18.

Although cancer death rates for women are generally on the downswing, statistics indicate that female lung cancer fatalities are rising, according to the ALA. And more than 170,000 American women die every year from tobacco-related illness, the ALA estimates. And chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including chronic bronchitis and emphysema, kills more women than men.

“Quitting smoking is the single most important thing that most individuals can do to improve their health,” Mary H. Partridge, ALA's national board chair, said in a news release.
The organization hopes awareness of World No Tobacco Day will encourage female smokers to kick the habit, perhaps with the help of the ALA's "Freedom from Smoking Online" program, which provides both men and women assistance with quitting.

Ahead of World No Tobacco Day, the WHO released its survey on youth smoking.
The report said that out of 151 countries, half reported that as many teenage girls smoke as boys, and even outnumber boys in parts of Latin America, notably Chile, Colombia and Mexico, as well as in Eastern Europe.

Men account for 80 percent of the world's 1 billion smokers, according to the U.N. agency. Among adults, 40 percent of men smoke, compared to about 9 percent of women.
In large emerging markets such as China and India, 60 percent of men smoke versus 3 to 5 percent of women, leaving an important market to capture, WHO officials said.