Effects of Smoking on Teens

Come on everyone is doing it, is a phrase that sadly is to often said. Teens these days are so pressured with the idea of “cool” that they are willing to do just about anything to obtain this status, including mutilate their body. According to the CDC, “5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 will die early from a smoking-related illness. That’s about 1 of every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger alive today.” That is a staggering statistic that hits right home for most teens today, whether they themselves smokes, a friend, or a relative teen smoking is today’s latest epidemic.

Big tobacco companies are targeting children and teens. In the early 1930’s tobacco companies pushed out a product specifically geared towards children: candy cigarettes. These small paper tubes, often filled with bubble gum or other sugary substances, were specifically designed to get children addicted to the idea of having a cigarette in their mouths before they even knew what it is. Some candy cigarettes even puffed out a smoke like substance when children blew out of them. Now that children are becoming less interested in candy cigarettes big tobacco companies have found another way in to generation’s lives.

E-cigarettes have started to become a common recurrence in Middle and High schools all around the nations. Specifically target toward teens, these small usb like devices offer a variety of different flavors from mint to candy and even coffee. Big tobacco companies target teens because the variety of flavors are very appealing. The companies make claims that vaping is safer for the body then smoking the traditional cigarette, but what the companies fail to mention is that one vape cartridge has enough nicotine to equal out twenty cigarettes. According to Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter, “e-cigarette use among youth has surpassed current use of every other tobacco product overall, including conventional cigarettes.” Big tobacco companies are changing the everyday lives and health of teens around the world. Any form of smoking has a negative effect on teens.

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