On June 4, a report published by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that in the past 16 years high school students have become less likely to engage in health risk-related behaviors such as having sex and taking drugs. However, the CDC found that Hispanic students were less likely to have reduced risky behavior when compared to Black and White students in several key areas.

The National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is run by the CDC every two years, and is an anonymous, self-administered survey of students in grades 9 to 12. In the 2007 YRBS, over 14,000 students were surveyed from across 44 U.S. states, 5 territories, and several individual school districts. The combined statistics used results from 39 states and 22 large urban school districts.

The survey showed that males were more likely than females to engage in most behaviors involving violence or risk of unintentional injury, including driving while drinking alcohol, carrying a weapon, and being involved in a physical fight, although females were more likely to have contemplated or attempted suicide. Males were also more likely to have smoked tobacco or marijuana, engaged in heavy drinking, or engaged in sexual intercourse, while females were more likely to have fasted for 24 hours or more, vomited or taken laxatives in order to lose weight.

While the proportions of White and Black students who had ever had sexual intercourse, and who had had sex with four or more partners in their lifetimes, all dropped over the period 1991-2007, there was no change in either of these statistics for the Hispanic population. Compared to their counterparts in the 1990s however, Hispanic students in 2007 were found to be more likely to have used a condom during their most recent sexual intercourse, and less likely to have consumed drugs such as cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana.

Hispanic students were more likely than White or Black students to go without food for 24 hours to lose weight, to take drugs such as heroin or cocaine, to drink alcohol on school property, and to have avoided school on occasion because of safety concerns.

In comparison with previous YRBS results, the survey found that the percentage of students who had ever had sexual intercourse decreased from 54.1% in 1991 to 47.8% in 2007, with a comparable decrease in the percentage who had had four or more sexual partners, from 18.7% to 14.9%. Decreases were also found in the percentage of students who had attempted suicide, who rode in a car with a driver who had been drinking alcohol, and who had smoked marijuana in the past month, but an increase in the percentage who had avoided school on occasion because of safety concerns (from 4.4% in 1993 to 5.5% in 2007).

“We are pleased that more high school students today are doing things that will help them stay healthy and avoiding things that put their health in danger. Unfortunately we are not seeing that same progress among Hispanic teens for certain risk factors,” said Howell Wechsler, Ed.D., MPH, director of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health.

News Content: wikinews

The United Nations health agency the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a ban on tobacco advertising and promotion in order to protect the world’s children. The news release from the WHO came on Friday, one day before the annual World No Tobacco Day held each year on May 31.

This year’s World No Tobacco Day focuses on highlighting the practices of tobacco companies in their efforts to promote their products to young people. According to a WHO press release, studies show that young people are more likely to start smoking if exposed to tobacco advertising. The WHO notes that only five percent of the world population “is covered by comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship”.

“The WHO appeals to member states and policy-makers to require by law a comprehensive ban on all forms of advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of tobacco products,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa Luis Sambo, in a statement released Saturday in Kampala, Uganda.

“In order to survive, the tobacco industry needs to replace those who quit or die with new young consumers,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan. “A ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship is a powerful tool we can use to protect the world’s youth.”

The WHO said that tobacco companies are specifically targeting the half billion youth in the Asia Pacific region by tying smoking to the idea of a flashy lifestyle. The agency said the tobacco industry attempts to take advantage of children’s susceptibility to advertising and marketing.

According to the WHO most people take up smoking before they reach age 18, and almost twenty-five percent of smokers worldwide are under the age of 10. The agency said that a survey of 13 to 15 year-olds found that fifty-five percent had seen cigarette ads on billboards in the prior month, and twenty-percent owned something with a cigarette company’s logo.

According to BBC News, in the last ten years female and adolescent smoking in Russia has tripled. Russia does not have many anti-smoking laws. BBC News compared this to Canada, where smoking levels are at their lowest in 40 years and the country has very restrictive laws on smoking advertising.

“The tobacco industry employs predatory marketing strategies to get young people hooked to their addictive drug. But comprehensive advertising bans do work, reducing tobacco consumption by up to 16% in countries that have already taken this legislative step,” said Dr. Douglas Bettcher, Director of WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative.

A report by the WHO on tobacco use stated that approximately two thirds of the planet’s smokers reside in 10 countries including China, India, Indonesia, Russia, the United States, Japan, Bangladesh, Germany, and Turkey. Reuters reported that companies Philip Morris, Imperial Tobacco, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco are among the world’s largest producers of cigarettes.

News Contents From: wikinews.org