Fewer Young Canadians Smoking
A Statistics Canada survey finds that fewer Canadian youth ages
10 to 14 are smoking, the Canadian Press reported June 14.
According to the data, 6.2 percent of Canadian children in grades
5 to 9 said they smoked in 2002, a drop from the 13.6 percent who
said they smoked in 1994.
The study also found that youth smoking is most prevalent in Quebec,
with 55 percent of the children who said they smoked in 2002 coming
from the province. "Quebec traditionally has higher smoking
rates, they traditionally have been more tolerant towards smoking,"
said Dr. Murray Kaiserman, director of the office of research, surveillance,
and evaluation in Health Canada's tobacco-control program.
Newfoundland and Labrador also have a high number of young smokers.
However, the survey found the smoking rate on the decline overall
even in these hot spots.
Kaiserman said the high cost of cigarettes, along with smoking
becoming less socially acceptable, can be credited for the decline
in youth smoking.
The survey results were based on responses from questionnaires
completed by 19,000 children in 955 classes in randomly selected
schools across Canada.
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