Decoys planned
Stores still selling cigs to teens
A TEENAGE girl walks into a gas stalion
and buys a pack of cigarettes. The store
clerk doesn’t ask for proof of her age, and
the people standing in line behind her don’t
seem to notice what's just happened.
What has happened is that relailer has just
broken a provincial law prohibiting the sale
of cigarettes to people under the age of 19.
Across B.C,, about 30 per cent of mer-
chants regularly ignore this law, Here in the
northwest, that figure is tikely higher,
estimates Ron Craig, manager of health
protection and safely for the Skecna Health
Unit.
As of September last year, the health unit
has had the power to issue tickets to
relailers not complying with the legislation.
A first offense results in a fine of $200.
Retailers have 30 days to appeal the ticket.
If that same business is caught selling
cigareltes to minors again within five years
of the first offense, the health unit can pre-
vent that business from selling cigarelles
for three months.
“Tt will have a significant impact on their
business,’’ says Craig. “I'll be quite a
hardship for a vendor,”’
So far the health unit has focused on
making sure that businesses which sell
cigarettes are aware of the legislation. Now,
says Craig, the health unit will start doing
compliance checks. That includes hiring
leens as decoys to check whether or not a
specific store will sell cigarettes to them.
‘We have a short list of premises we’re
concerned about,” says Craig.
High schools and community groups can
also do their own compliance checks, adds
Russell Seltenrich, an environmental health
officer. They can then pass the results of
Peer pressure is the problem
these surveys onto the health unit.
Or if a member of the public sees a store
selling cigarettes to someone who looks un-
derage, be or she can note the date and the
store, and pass the information along, If
that person is willing 10 be used as a wit-
ness, their information could result in a
licket being issued. Otherwise the health
unit does its own compliance check based
on the informalion.
No teens have been hired yet, due to a
lemporary hiring freeze in the health minis-
Iry, but Craig hopes to start using decoy
leens soon, —
These teens will be trying to buy
cigarettes. throughout the entire health
region, from the Charlottes to Houston, and
from Kemano to Atlin.
There's a reason why the health unit is
focusing so much on sales of cigarettes to
minors.
“Studies have shown that if you don't
start smoking by age 19, than you never
will,’ says Craig, ‘‘People over the age of
25 aren’t targeted by advertisers,’” he says,
That's because once the tobacco companies
hook someone, they know they’ve got
them.
The addiction is a very powerful one.
Studies have shown that cigarettes are more
addictive than heroine or cocaine, says
Craig.
That addiction is costing B.C. taxpayers
an estimaled $1.5 billion a year to treat
smoking-related illnesses. That’s more than
20 per cent of the health ministry's budget,
taken up by discases which are completely
preventable.
“That's a lot of money for three million
people to support,’ says Craig.
The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 24, 1996 - AS
Twist
of fate
DOCTORS have known for a
long time that the decision to
quit smoking can save some-
one’s life. For Chris Jennings
that may literally have been truc,
Jennings was involved in a
scrious accident on his way to
Prince Rupert in the fall of 1990,
It was a rainy day and there
was a lot of water on the road.
When Jennings pulled cut to
pass ascmi trailer, he saw anoth-
er truck coming towards him.
“f braked too hard, spun out,
went over the bank, and landed
in 12 feet of water.”
Jennings’s passenger got out,
but Jennings was sluck wun-
derwater for 10-12 minutes be-
fore rescuers could free him,
“Tl wasn’t breathing and { had
no heartbeat.”
Jennings ended up in Van-
couver, where he remained in a
coma for three days,
Since then Jennings appears to
have recovered fully from the
accident, lo the amazement of
doctors.
“T had quit smoking 13
months before the accident,”’
said Jennings.
Before then he had been
plagued with bronchitis and
breathing difficulties,
Doctors credited his improved
lung capacity for helping to save
his life.
Jennings has remained a ‘‘non-
practicing smoker”’ since then.
“Et surprises me. I smoked for
20 years, but I don’t have any
lingering desires.”
SMOKING AMONG TEENS is on the increase again, more so among
teenage girls. Recent statists show that 29 per cent of all teenage girls
smoke, compared to 26 per cent of teenage boys.
TEENS KNOW how dangerous
smoking is, but they’re doing it
anyway. That’s the finding of a
Canada-wide 1994 Youth Smok-
ing Survey, recently released.
Among the findings, 70 per cent
of. 15 to 19-year-olds cited peer
pressure as the most common rea-
son why youth start to smoke
‘More than 90 per cent of 10 to
19-year-olds believe that tobacco
is addictive and that tobacco
smoke can be harmful to the health
‘of non-smokers.
An overwhelming majority of
both smokers (85 per cent) and
JUST THE FACTS
Smoking is a growing problem among teenagers. Recent stalistics show that the number of males aged 15-19
‘who smoke has climbed from 21% to 26%. Those numbers are even higher for females in the same age group.
They’ve climbed from 21% to 29%. That’s reason enough to make health care professionals concerned. Take a
look at the following statistics:
®, Tobacco smoke kills 38,000 people in Canada
each year
%, In B.C. tabacco kiils 5,000 people a year
~ & Tobacco is the leading cause of cancer deaths
in men and women
®, There are more than 4,000 different chemicals
_in tobacco smoke. More than 50 of these are
known to cause cancer,
& The 5 year survival rate for lung cancer is
“only 15%
® The excess risk of coronary heart disease is
reduced by 50% after quitting smoking for 1
year.
THESE GRADE 10 students fro
veediy ead
non-smokers (83 per cent) agree
that billboards and signs for events
sponsored by tobacco companies
are ways of advertising cigarette
brands.
This is the first national survey
to look at the prevalence of smok-
ing among youth aged 10 to 14.
Seven per cent of both males and
females in this age group smoke,
The survey also found that 23
per cent of males and 24 per cent
of females aged..15 to 19 are
Smokers. The ‘results indicale a
prevalence of smoking about the ‘Tobacco Control blueprint,” said
same as in 1991. Prevalence
-smokers.
m Skeena Junior Secondary were part of a panel
discussion on smoking that grade 8 students attended last week. They cautioned
the younger students not to start smoking,
ranges from a low of 19 percent in
Saskatchewan to a high of 28 per
cent in Newfoundland.
As well, 59 per cent of males and
54 percent of females aged 10 to
19 feel that it is easy to buy
cigarettes,
‘*These survey results have
strengihened my resolve to pursue
the tougher restrictions on self-
service tobacco product displays,
What’s Your Poison?
When you smoke you
inhale up to 4000 Hydrogen Cyanide
chemicals including (Poison used in gas
these poisons: chambers)
Acetone
(Paint stripper)
4-Aminobipheny]
®&, The risk of heart attack drops to normal! levels
3 years after quitting smoking
® After 5 years quitting smoking, risk of bladder
cancer and cancers of the oral cavity and
esophagus drop by 50%. The risk of cervical
-cancer substantially declines, and the risk of
smoke returns to the same level as non-
@, After 10 years of quitting smoker, the risk of
lung cancer drops 50-70%
& After 15 years of quitting smoking, the risk of
dying is similar to persons who never smoked
Dimethylnitrosamine
Nicotine
Cadmium
(Used in car batteries)
Carbon monoxide
(Poisonous gas in car
exhausts)
Benzopyrene
Vinyl Chloride ———
(Makes PVC)
mail order sales and in-store Mercury
promotions and tobacco company Urethane
sponsorships, as oullined. inthe ~°* so urls
Lead
Health Minister Diane Marleau, ‘ (in dus “iat ene
ol
Arsenic
Benzene (White ant poison)
Dibenzacridine
Phenol
Formaldehyde
DDT (Insecticide)
It’s enough to
make you sick.
Very sick.
CANADIAN | SOCIETE
CANCER CANADIENNE
SOCIETY DU CANCER
Y
Teens told not to start
GET ‘EM while they’re young.
That’s the philosophy behind
much cigarette advertising, That’s
because a kid hooked on smoking
before the age of 19 can become a
lifetime customer,
Now that same ‘‘get ‘em while
they're young’’ philosophy is
being used by doctors and health
care professionals. Statistics show
that if someone doesn’t start
smoking by age 19, they likely
never will,
With that in mind, Crispina Cote,
a nurse at Mills Memorial Hospi-
tal, helped organize a presentation
last week to grade 8 students from
Skeena Jr. Secondary,
Dr. David Bowering, the medical
director of the Skeena Health Unit,
spoke fo the students about the
ways smoking companies try to
make it appear as though smoking
was a normal, even cool, activity,
“It’s a disease,”’ said Bowering.
“And it’s going to kill more of
you silting here than any other dis-
ease I know of”?
He lold the teens that smoking
was by far the leading cause of
death, before the age of 70, for
both men and women.
He also advised teens who
smoked not to lend or offer
cigarettes to their friends.
«'You’re just working for the to-
bacco companies when you do
that.’’
Next to speak was Dr. M.
Kenyon, an internist at Mills
Memorial hospital.
Smoking is one of the leading
causes behind coronary disease, he
said, And he’s secing younger and
younger patients who’ve had heart
attacks, most recently a 23-year-
old smoker.
Smoking also increases some-
one’s chances of hardening their
arteries, leading to problems with
their lower limbs, and significantly
increases the risk of stroke.
“Smoking is the biggest single
preventable health factor,’* said
Kenyon.
Lung cancer and chronic lung
discase are also (he result of sraok-
ing fora number of years.
Having chronic lung disease is
like drowning for five or ten years,
said Kenyon. ‘“That’s what it feels
like.”’
Siudents also had a [first-hand
chance to learn what lung cancer
looked like. Dr. Enriquez, a
pathologist with the hospital,
showed slides of discased lungs he
had taken from autopsy patients —
many whom had died of lung can-
cer,
Finally the students were given a
little good news by pharmacist
Eric Durando. He told students
about nicotine gum and nicotine
patches, two techniques to help
smokers butt out for good.
“*Eighty per cent of people who
start smoking end up getting
hooked,”’ he said. Compare those
figures to the success rates of
those who try to quit.
People who try to quit cold
lurkey are only 15 per cent likely
lo succeed. Those using nicotine
patches or gum have a 30 per cent
chance to kick the habit,
“‘The best thing to do is not to
slart,’’ Durando advised the
audience of 13-15 year olds.