Despite decline in tobacco use rates, area teen smokers still exceed averages
Associated Press
Teen smoking rates have been on the decline, but Fayette County rates still exceed national and state percentages.
While the teenage smoking rate for Fayette County is in line with the nationwide decline, there are still more area youngsters using tobacco here than the national and state averages, according to recent reports.
According to the recently released 2014 National Health Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average percentage of high school students in 2013 who were current smokers was 15.7 percent. For youth smoking, the average change since 2005 represents a decline of 4.2 percent per year.
Although the tobacco use rate for area teens has been decreasing since 2011, a 2013 Pennsylvania Youth Survey shows that the percentage of Fayette County students in grade 12 using tobacco was 42.3 percent in 2011 and 38.9 percent in 2013. The state average for 2013 was 35.2 percent.
Erica Usher, prevention supervisor at Fayette County Drug and Alcohol Commission, Inc., said although the national average goal of 16 percent for the country set by Healthy People 2020 was reached, it’s not a time to get comfortable, especially with local rates far exceeding the national numbers.
“The thing I never want anyone to get too focused on is this idea that we (the nation) are at the lowest rate,” she said. “There are a ton of hurdles. We still live in a culture where tobacco use in some fashion doesn’t necessarily have a negative connotation.”
This year, Usher said that Fayette County Drug and Alcohol Commission, Inc. will be involved with the 2015 Pennsylvania Youth Survey and will also be looking into the connection between teenagers and e-cigarette use,” he said.
“Maybe a lot of kids get that smoking cigarettes gives you lung cancer, but they may disagree when it comes to e-cigarettes. You are still getting nicotine and it is a poison. A lot of people look at it that this is safer for me to use which is not necessarily accurate.”
E-cigarettes, or electronic cigarettes, have been advertised as a safer alternative to smoking and is often touted as an instrument to help people quit smoking. Usher does not support any of these claims and is worried about the lack of scientific data that is available about these products. She likens this to the 1950s and 1960s when information about the dangers of cigarettes were still unknown and some doctors were even suggesting to smoke certain brands for health reasons.
“What I can say is that I am concerned because somehow e-cigarettes have gotten this reputation of being acceptable as a tobacco cessation aid and that because of this it is something that is better than using cigarettes or smokeless tobacco,” she said. “My concern is they are so new you don’t have long term data on it. When cigarettes were first mass marketed it is way different than what they are now. We looked at what we know now and it is a lot different than what we knew then and I would make the same argument for e-cigarettes.”
In order to curb teenage smoking and bring the percentage to zero, Usher says proactive steps need to be taken.
“You can get cigarettes just about anywhere. You can buy it at any gas station and grocery store. If you can get it, you are going to use it,” she said.
In addition to making the products difficult to obtain, education and support from authority figures is still a key component.
“We get a lot of health culture from the Internet and television. If we focus on that, then a lot of our beliefs are misguided. A lot of people would like drug and alcohol prevention to be nice and easy and we go in and teach them these lessons and they learn, but that is just a piece of it,” explained Usher.
“We make sure the people have information, and what are better choices and how to make those better choices.”