STUDY: 43 PCT. OF TEENS USE TOBACCO

WASHINGTON--Forty-three percent of the nation's high school students either
smoke cigarettes or cigars or chew tobacco, and the number of teen-age
smokers is steadily rising, the government says in a report likely to boost
efforts to reduce teen smoking.

Among the most disturbing findings is that smoking by black students -once
hailed as a success story for their continually low cigarette use -has
almost doubled.

"We're losing ground in the battle to protect our children," said Health
and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

The 1997 figures come in a new report from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.

Vice President Al Gore, Shalala and other Cabinet members planned to
announce the figures during anti-smoking rallies in eight states today,
where they will call on Congress to quickly pass legislation to prevent
tobacco marketing and use by minors.

Legislation that would force tobacco companies to pay $506 billion over 25
years and curb their marketing practices was approved Wednesday by the
Senate Commerce Committee. The legislation also calls for fining companies
billions of dollars if teen smoking rates do not fall significantly.

Tobacco companies vehemently oppose the bill because it fails to offer as
much protection against lawsuits by sick smokers as an earlier deal they
agreed to in the hope of settling 40 state lawsuits.

How many teens use tobacco is an important public health question because
studies show more than 80 percent of smokers become addicted before they
turn 18.

The last time the CDC counted teen-age smokers was in 1995, when 34.8
percent of the nation's high school students had smoked in the previous
month. Last year, that number rose to 36.4 percent of students -and 16.7
percent were heavy smokers.

But the 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey for the first time counted both
cigarette smokers and teens who use cigars or smokeless tobacco. The report
found 48.2 percent of all teen-age boys and 36 percent of all girls use
some form of tobacco. The most common users: white teen-age boys, at 51.5
percent.

The report's bigger finding is that black students' smoking rates are
increasing faster than any other racial group. Just 12.6 percent of black
high school students smoked cigarettes in 1991. Last year, 22.7 percent
did. Smoking doubled among black males, from 14 percent in 1991 to 28
percent last year. Smoking increased by 54 percent among black females,
from 11.3 percent in 1991 to 17.4 percent last year.

Black teen smoking rates still are the nation's lowest -34 percent of
Hispanic students smoke and 40 percent of whites do. But the much more
rapid increase among black teens explains growing concern in black
communities.

Ministers last summer accused R.J. Reynolds of targeting black teens with
the new Camel Menthols brand, saying a "hip-hop" Joe Camel was peddling the
cigarette in magazines targeted to young black readers. And internal RJR
documents released in February included marketing studies of black teens.

In contrast to the teen numbers, 25 percent of U.S. adults smoke, a
proportion that has held steady in recent years after large drops since the
1970s.

The CDC is still investigating why more teens are picking up the habit. But
an administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said early
results suggest affordability -a key element of the pending congressional
tobacco deal -is one reason. The industry cut the prices of premium brands,
including teen-preferred Marlboros, by 20 percent in 1994, and price
increases haven't kept up with inflation since, the official said.

Congress' leading anti-tobacco bill, by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would
raise cigarette prices by $1.10 a pack by 2003 in an effort to cut teen
smoking. Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., author along with Sen. Tom Harkin,
D-Iowa, of a competing tobacco bill, said McCain's bill needed to be
toughened "by increasing the cost of a pack of cigarettes much more -closer
to $1.50 per pack over 24 months. . . . We need to give teen smokers a jolt
to get them to kick the habit -a significant price hike in a very short
period of time."

Among other findings of the CDC's survey of 16,000 students:

- -15.8 percent of teen-age boys and just 1.5 percent of girls use smokeless
tobacco. -One in five students had smoked cigars in the past month.

- -White teens had the highest total tobacco use, at 46.8 percent.

- -Almost 37 percent of Hispanic teens use some form of tobacco, followed by
29.4 percent of black teens.

Copyright Los Angeles Times