New Publication Fights Epidemic Of Smoking Among Teen-age Girls.

It is “back to school” time. Unless things change by the start of the 2002 school year more than 250,000 teen-age girls will have become regular smokers. About one-third will eventually die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses such as heart disease, far more than will die from breast cancer. How to stop those girls from smoking is the subject of the latest issue of the National Women’s Health Report, published by the National Women’s Health Resource Center.

“The start of a new school year is a highly stressful time for teenagers, a time when they are very susceptible to starting smoking,” said Amy Niles, the Executive Director of the Resource Center. “Our newsletter gives parents
practical information about how to stop girls from starting. ‘Back to School’ should not mean “time to light up.”

The eight-page newsletter is packed with facts about teen-age girls and smoking, as well as up-to-the-minute tips and resources for parents to want to help their teenage daughters quit smoking or not start. Most importantly it talks about prevention messages and tactics that work. Researcher Carolyn Johnson, interviewed for the Report says to forget talking about lung cancer, emphysema and other possible long-term consequences. Adults should focus on the short-term and start by stopping smoking themselves. (Children are less likely to take up smoking if their parents quit before the kids reach age nine.) Other tactics include getting teenagers to interview adult smokers about their habit, encouraging a healthy lifestyle, and suggesting doing school papers on some facet of smoking.

Publication of “Adolescent Girls & Smoking” is supported by a grant from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, one of the nation’s largest nongovernmental initiatives ever launched to protect children from tobacco addiction and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Free copies of the National Women’s Health Report are available by calling 1-877-986-9472, through the Center’s Web site at http://www.healthywomen.org, or by writing NWHRC at 120 Albany Street, Suite 820, New Brunswick, NJ 08901.

The National Women’s Health Resource Center is the nation’s leading independent, non-profit organization dedicated to educating women of all ages about health and wellness issues. Its programs include the National Women’s Health Report, public education campaigns and its Web site, http://www.healthywomen.org, a one-stop shop for women’s health on the Web.