OC HIGH STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : inline : Smoking Issues
Scientists urged Congress last week to allow the government to aggressively regulate tobacco--from capping nicotine to banning cigarette vending machines--as a way to fight teen-age smoking.
“Tobacco needs supervision and regulation right away,” said Paul Torrens, a UCLA professor who co-wrote the report issued by the Institute of Medicine. “This is a dangerous, addictive substance that is widely and freely available to teen-agers around this country.”
The government says more than 400,000 Americans die each year from diseases attributed to smoking--and 70% of smokers start before age 18. Anti-smokers and government scientists say as many as 3,000 teen-agers a day become regular smokers, hooked on nicotine after experimenting with just a few cigarettes.
The Institute of Medicine spent 18 months studying how to battle teen smoking and concluded that current school education programs and state laws prohibiting tobacco sales to youths aren’t enough.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
