According to findings presented by the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) approximately 50% of men all over the world use tobacco products in one form or another. And only 10% of women light up, state authors of the study. These estimates demonstrate that present women are starting to light up at a younger age than ever before. So, there is a need to decrease or keep low smoking rates among female smokers, to drop the initiation by youngsters, and to boost quitting rates among al smokers.

The research that examined more than 3 billion people aged 14 to 18, identified smoking as the most spread form of tobacco use. Even the 40% of men and 5% of women who participated in the research declared that smoking was their main way of tobacco use. “This demonstrates one more time the power of pro-tobacco forces worldwide. All these products are specially created to hidden the harsh taste, allow pleasant taste sensations and raise nicotine delivery. And also, those companies that produce all these cigarettes implement a wise marketing strategies in order to increase and maintain consumption,” stated Gary Giovino, the co-author of the research. After the smoking initiation was examined among the group, younger women aged 25-35 years were found to light up their first cigarettes at an earlier age than older women aged 55-65 years, at 17 and 23 years respectively.
As about mean age among men smokers, the initiation remained at about 19 years.

The countries that participated at the research are Brazil, China, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Uruguay. Of all these countries, China had the highest rate of cigarette users. The quit rates were lower in China, Russia and Egypt and the most positive in the UK and USA. According to industry experts, it is quite difficult to transform these estimates into efficient policies, despite the fact that GATS findings show the urgent need for actions. They underlined that not all policy makers have the scientific evidence to estimate the validity and efficiency of even the most qualitative data presented by GATS.
In the meantime, all GATS findings should be used to pass efficacious strategies for tobacco control.

By Clark Moore, Staff Writer
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