LIHUE — Look around at a group of children and consider the statistic that one out of every 13 kids under the age of 18 will die prematurely from smoking-related diseases, that is unless current smoking rates drop.
The statistic is part of a new report released Friday by The Surgeon General.
Kauai residents responding to the report are well-aware of the damaging effects of smoking. Grace Laborte, of Kapaa, is the mother of a 6-year-old son.
“I’m always telling him, don’t smoke, you’ll die young,” said Laborte. “Hopefully he’ll listen.”
Add the death statistic to another from the Surgeon General’s report that shows each day, 2,100 youth and young adults nationwide become daily smokers.
“I don’t like the smell,” said Lauren Freundy, a 10-year-old who attends Olelo Christian Academy, Lihue with her 8-year-old sister Ashley.
“It can kill you,” said Ashley in an interview Friday, when asked what she thinks of smoking.
Both of the Freundy children say they learned about the effects of smoking from their older brother who used to smoke and started at the age of 12. Although he had not yet seen the report, Kauai School Superintendent Bill Arakaki said the district’s curriculum covers the use of tobacco in the health classes.
“We’re always concerned when we see any report having to do with anything involving children,” said Arakaki.
He referred to the state of Hawaii’s risky behavior survey posted online, which showed a downward trend in cigarette usage in middle schools, dropping from 5.3 percent in the school population to 3.6 percent in 2011.
A drop by more than half from 27.1 percent in the year 2000 statewide to 11.8 percent in 2011 is recorded in the same cigarette smoking survey for high school students.
The national Surgeon General’s report, The Health Consequences of Smoking — 50 years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General, comes a half century after the 1964 report that identified that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer.
A doctor’s advice saved the life of Laborte’s father years ago, when the physician listened to his persistent cough and recommended he stop smoking.
Laborte is grateful he listened to that advice.
The new report said that although youth smoking rates declined by half between 1997 and 2011, each day another 3,200 children under 18 smoke their first cigarette.
“Over the last 50 years tobacco control efforts have saved 8 million lives but the job is far from over,” said Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Howard K. Koh, M.D., M.P.H. “Our nation is now at a crossroads, and we must choose to end the tobacco epidemic once and for all.”
For free quit smoking help, call 1-800-quit-now or visit smokefree.gov or www.cdc.gov/tips.
• Lisa Ann Capozzi, features and education reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com.
