Time for smokers to lose their cool (From Bournemouth Echo)

Time for smokers to lose their cool

9:55am Wednesday 13th March 2013 in Opinion

Time for smokers to lose their cool

MOST adults are well aware of the dangers of smoking and are unlikely to take it up in their mature years. Most younger children, meanwhile, probably can’t imagine why grown-ups should be silly enough to do it.

But in between are the impressionable teenagers. Some of them, despite all the health warnings, can’t help feeling that there’s something enjoyably rebellious about a cigarette. The more adults disapprove, the more they are tempted.

That’s why we should all be concerned by the claims that cigarette packaging is increasingly being designed to attract the attention of young people.

If that’s true, it may be working, since we report today that more than 3,500 children aged 11-15 have the habit.

It’s not hard to see how smoking can look cool to teenagers who are tempted to think they’ll live forever. The challenge is to educate them that emphysema, heart disease and lung cancer are not cool at all.