Surgeon general declares youth smoking an "epidemic"

Smoking among America's youth has reached epidemic proportions, starting them on the path to a lifetime of addiction, the U.S. surgeon general's office said in its first report on youth smoking since 1994.

Among U.S. high school seniors, one in four is a regular cigarette smoker, and because few high school smokers are able to quit, some 80 percent will continue to smoke as adults, according to the report released on Thursday.

"Today, more than 600,000 middle school students and 3 million high school students smoke. We don't want our children to start something now that they won't be able to change later in life," Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin said in the report, which details the scope, health consequences and influences that lead to youth tobacco use.

An estimated 3,800 kids pick up their first cigarette every day and 9 in 10 current smokers started before the age of 18. Some 99 percent of all first-time tobacco use happens by the age of 26, exposing young people to the long-term health effects of smoking, such as lung cancer and heart disease.

"This report highlights the urgent need to employ proven methods nationwide that prevent young people from smoking and encourage all smokers to quit, including passage of smoke-free laws, increases in tobacco excise taxes and fully funded tobacco prevention programs," John Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said in a statement.

Although U.S. smoking rates have fallen since 1964, when the surgeon general issued the first health warnings on smoking, progress in curbing youth smoking has stalled in the past decade just as marketing efforts aimed at youth continues to climb.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 1,200 people every day. And for every tobacco-related death, two new "replacement" smokers under the age of 25 take up the habit.

The report criticized tobacco companies for targeting youth, saying the industry spends more than $1 million an hour - over $27 million per day - in marketing and promoting tobacco products.

According to the report, advertising messages that make smoking appealing to young people are widespread, and advertising for tobacco products is prominently displayed in retail stores and online.

"Targeted marketing encourages more young people to take up this deadly addiction every day," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. "This administration is committed to doing everything we can do to prevent our children from using tobacco."

Tobacco companies are spending more than $10 billion a year marketing their products - almost double the amount they spent in 1998 - but they have also stepped up their efforts to block policies aimed at reducing smoking, said Danny McGoldrick, vice president for research at the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids.