World No Tobacco Day campaign for tobacco-free youth

Saturday 31 May marks World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) and the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland (HPA) is supporting this year's campaign for tobacco-free youth.

Nicotine is a highly addictive substance and for children and young people who experiment with tobacco it can easily lead to a lifetime of dependence.

Research carried out with pupils in forms 1-5 revealed that over half had smoked their first cigarette before they reached 13 years of age and more girls had tried smoking and continued to smoke compared to boys.¹ The younger children are when they first try smoking, the more likely they are to become regular tobacco users and the less likely they are to quit.

Dr Brian Gaffney, Chief Executive of the HPA, said: "Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world and claims around 3,000 lives each year in Northern Ireland. We know that 12 or 13 years of age is the crucial point when young people start to experiment with smoking. At this age they do not see themselves as 'real' smokers, rather 'social' smokers and believe they can give up at any time but the reality is that the smoking is already controlling them by this stage."

In Northern Ireland the highest percentage of adult smokers is among the 20-24 age group (35%), which is greater than the overall percentage of adult smokers (25%). In particular smoking figures for young women aged 16-19 are especially worrying as they are increasing at an alarming rate. More than twice as many females than males in the 16-19 year old age group now smoke (31% vs 13%).²

Dr Gaffney, continued: "One of the ways we can reduce the number of young people smoking in Northern Ireland is by increasing the age limit for the sale of tobacco from 16 to 18 years and therefore bring the legislation in line with the rest of the UK and Ireland.

"We welcome the current proposals by the Department of Health to do this but to be most effective the proposed changes should not stand alone but be part of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy. We would also want to see restrictions in relation to the sale of packets of 10 cigarettes and the use of vending machines and the display of cigarettes in shops."

END

Notes to the editor
Further information about WNTD is available from www.who.int/tobacco/wntd

The HPA website for young people www.up-2-you.net has sections on smoking and passive smoking as well as other relevant health issues. Through the website young people can get the facts they need to help them make decisions about their lifestyle and find out how their choices can impact their health.

For media enquiries contact:
The HPA Press Office on Tel: 028 9031 1611.

1. Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Young persons' behaviour and attitudes survey. Belfast: NISRA, 2003.
2. Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Continuous household survey 2006-07. Belfast: NISRA, 2007.