Women smokers getting younger

Female Filipino smokers are getting younger, a health expert said yesterday, citing a study showing three out of 10 women who light up belong to the 13-15 age group.

Dr. Maricar Limpin, executive director of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance-Philippines, said that based on a study of the Bangkok-based Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA), Filipino women smokers are “getting younger.”

“In 1998, a study of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute showed the youngest smokers were in the 15-17 age bracket. Now, in the SEATCA study, it’s in 13-15 already,” she told The STAR.

Citing the study, Limpin said five out of 10 smokers in the 13-15 age bracket “believed that tobacco companies encourage (females) their age to smoke.”

The study showed 18.7 percent of young women in the 13 to 25 age brackets are smokers.

“The study clearly shows that tobacco companies are enticing the youth to take up smoking. In marketing parlance, the youths are called ‘replacement smokers’ and they are the ones now being targeted by these tobacco companies,” Limpin said.

Peer pressure was cited as another factor in the high incidence of smoking among the youth.

Nine out of 10 smokers admitted knowing the ill-effects of smoking. A total of 57.4 percent said they smoke with their friends.