KEY POINTS:
Teen smoking rates have halved in just eight years, says an anti-smoking lobby group.
Action on Smoking and Health yesterday released survey results which showed 14.2 per cent of Year 10 students said they smoked, down from 28.6 per cent in the same group in 1999.
Ben Youdan, the director of the lobby group, said the survey also revealed that 53.8 per cent of the students had never smoked a cigarette, up from 31.6 per cent in 1999.
While the tobacco industry was trying to replace the 5000 smokers killed each year by its products, teenagers had shown they weren't there to be manipulated, Mr Youdan said.
For the third year in a row, the rate of smoking among Maori girls had dropped, he said.
"The percentage of Year 10 Maori girls who have never had even one puff of a cigarette increased from 12.4 per cent in 1999, to 23.5 per cent in 2006."
Having two parents who smoked still dramatically increased a child's likelihood of taking up the habit.
"Of pupils who come from homes where both parents smoke, 33 per cent smoke themselves.
"This drops to 19 per cent where only one parent smokes, and only 7.6 per cent of students whose parents don't smoke, smoke themselves."
Quitting was the best thing parents who smoked could do for their children's wellbeing, Mr Youdan said.
The lobby group took part in a forum for anti-smoking groups in Auckland yesterday.
The meeting was designed to reach consensus on issues which had created disagreement among the anti-smoking lobby, such as whether to call for a ban on all tobacco products.
- NZPA
