Problems with Teen Smoking in America.
Teen smoking is a serious problem in the United States because the tobacco industry targets teenagers with their persuasive advertising. We see often in public places, teenagers who are standing around, smoking cigarettes. Recently, there has been legislation that has been turned down by Republicans in Congress, which was supposed to send a strong message to the tobacco industry. While this legislation was turned down, President Bill Clinton has vowed to continue his efforts to lower the rates of teen smoking. Yes, this problem steadily increases and the age groups become younger, but the problem will get worse if Congress does not try to target the tobacco industry.
Many teen smokers take up smoking as a daily habit. .
The tobacco industry is conducting a multi-million dollar campaign disinforming the public that they are not increasing prices to reduce teen smoking. There have been numerous economic researches in peer-reviewed journals about price increases in tobacco. Research proves in the documented journals that increase in the price of cigarettes will reduce teen smoking by seven percent. The tobacco industry is almost fully reliant on teenagers. According to a web site sponsored by the American Lung Association of Gulf Coast Florida, those who die from smoking each year, plus those who quit the daily habit, are replaced by one million teenagers who begin smoking annually ("American Lung Association"). The tobacco industry has its own words to say about price increase on cigarettes. The industry claims that price increases are disastrous and ineffective for the tobacco industry and other industries. .
The number of teen smokers has increased to 73 percent between 1988 and 1996. This percentage was proposed on October 8, 1998. More than 1.2 million Americans under the age of eighteen started smoking daily in 1996, up from an estimated 708,000 in 1988.