Puff or two enough to hook 'love at first sight' smokers

Research has revealed that smoking the occasional cigarette can be just as addictive as lighting up every day.

The new findings, which run contrary to the popular belief that people become addicted to nicotine only when they smoke regularly, have anti-tobacco groups fearing young people are getting hooked by just experimenting with cigarettes.

More than 700 American children aged 12 and 13 were studied by researchers from the University of Massachusetts, who found that many became addicted to nicotine within days of starting to smoke and after just a few cigarettes.

The research, published in the medical journal Tobacco Control, also found that some people could smoke up to five cigarettes a day and show no symptoms of addiction.

Of the 95 youngsters who admitted to smoking occasionally, two-thirds experienced addictive cravings, like finding it hard to quit or feeling irritable, if they were without a cigarette before they began smoking daily. Several had these symptoms within days of starting to smoke.

The study's author, Dr Joseph DiFranza, said the results indicated that "daily smoking is unlikely to be a prerequisite for the development of nicotine dependence."

The study placed smokers in three groups. The "love at first sight" smokers who developed symptoms of addiction within days or weeks of use, the "gradual addicts" who took longer, perhaps even months or years of regular smoking before becoming dependent, and the "chippers," those who can smoke up to five cigarettes a day over many years without showing evidence of addiction.

Ash director Trish Fraser said last night that the addiction rate for young New Zealanders would be far worse, as cigarettes here had twice as much nicotine as those in the US.

Ash surveyed 29,000 students aged between 14 and 15 in 1999 and found that 32 per cent of girls smoked, and of them 17 per cent smoked daily. Twenty-five per cent of boys smoked and of them 14 per cent smoked daily.

"The danger for them [young people] is in the experimental stage."

She said the Ministry of Health was looking at reducing the level of nicotine in New Zealand cigarettes.

British American Tobacco spokeswoman Vicki Curtis said underage smoking was a problem in New Zealand, given that it had risen over the past 10 years.