Most Schoolboys, Many Girls Are Smokers, Survey Shows

Press, Volume C, Issue 29712, 4 January 1962, Page 11

Most Schoolboys, Many Girls Are Smokers, Survey Shows

Schoolchildren should be made to realise that smoking 20 cigarettes could soon be their fate, says Dr. C. N. Derek Taylor, director of the Health Department's division of health education, in the “New Zealand Education Gazette.” He says a Health Department survey of smoking by schoolchildren showed that 90 per cent, of boys and more than 60 per cent of girls had smoked. Of those, 48 per cent of the boys and 31 per cent of the girls smoked regularly, the boys starting at 12 or 13 years and the girls about a year later. Dr. Derek Taylor says American surveys showed that the proportion of lifelong heavy smokers who wiH die of lung cancer is about one in eight; the number of non-smokers one in 300. Ten cigarettes a day increased the chances from five to 15 times and 40 cigarette* a day increased the risk to 27 times. I “Obviously health educa- I

s tion about smoking is necessary while a child is at school and must start relatively early,” says Dr. Derek Taylor. "As with all health education, it should be fitted as much as possible into the general teaching programme and adapted to the age. experience and interests of the class. "Thus young children can be encouraged in the development of good health practices generally whereas older children can actually study tobacco, its uses and its effects on the human body. “A critical discussion of cigarette advertisements gives children food for thought and the financial argument carries conviction if it is linked with the heavier smoking of adult level. "During the survey, many children were surprised to hear that 20 cigarettes a day was not unusual tor an adult. They should be made to realise that this cousd soon be their fate and that the financial savings of the non-

• smoker are considerable. : “The cost of 20 cigarettes • a day tor 18 months will buy : a return fare to Sydney." i Dr. Derek Taylor says I many teachers are smokers ■ and he asks how they are I to speak with conviction on the dangers of smoking. As ' an answer to his own question he quotes Dr. H. B. Turbo®, Director-General of Health, who said in his foreword to the report on children s smoking: "It is a difficult sitoation if you are a parent and teacher and you smoke yourself. You may explain nevertheless that our knowledge of the dangers of smoking is very recent and was not available when you were young. You can go further and use yourself as an example of how difficult it is to break the habit once it is formed.” Dr. Derek Taylor says the child must make up his own mmd whether he will smoke or not, but adults have a duty to see that he is in full possession of the facts before he makes his decision.