Teen smoking

Due to peer pressure, propaganda and availability, teenage smoking has been

on the rise since 1986. Three thousand children start using tobacco each day

because of the negative influences aimed toward them. Our President and the

American Medical Association have taken action and have urged tobacco

companies to do the same against under age smoking. Despite all positive actions

against it, "pack-a-day" smoking has risen thirty-three Percent in the past ten years

among high school seniors.

Throughout life children and adults are being persuaded to do or try

something that goes against what they believe. Peer pressure is common place in

grade school, where children are constantly being exposed to smoking. Cigarettes

are being smoked everywhere authority is not, during school or any other place kids

congregate. Kids smoke because they want to feel like they 'fit in' and they want to

rebel at the same time. "U.S. News discussed the smoking issue with twenty

teenagers from suburban Baltimore.

English: Smoking any tobacco product, %, Females

Dunhill Early Morning Pipe Tobacco, 1990's Murray

Advertisement for "Egyptian Deities" cigarettes, 1...

Half were boys, half girls, and all were

between the ages of fifteen and seventeen. Over more than four hours of

conversation, it became clear that most teens smoked for two seemingly

contradictory reasons: They want to be part of a peer group, while rejecting society

and its norms. They want to reach out and rebel at the same time."(Roberts 38)

Tobacco companies spend four billion dollars each year in advertising and

promotional costs and claim there is no health risk. Six hundred thousand people die

every year from smoking related illness, and others quit. Teenagers are not

concerned about their health. The tobacco industry tries to appeal to the youth. The

earlier kids get hooked, the more secure the companies' sales are. "For the tobacco

industry, these youngsters are an essential source of new customers. While cigarette

makers deny it,