BMC Public Health 2008, 8(Suppl 1):S2 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8/S1/S2 sports events and also prohibits sponsorship by the tobacco industry of events for minors. However, Law 28705 includes only partial restrictions; thus, it is not as strict as Article 13 of the WHO FCTC requires. Studies have shown that the impact of partial restrictions, such as those outlined by Law 28705, have very little effect on the consumption of tobacco [23]. Renewed effort needs to be made to achieve the objectives set by Article 12 of the WHO FCTC on education, communication, training and public awareness and Article 5 in Peruvian Law 28705 dedicated to promote and strengthen public awareness of tobacco control issues. However, education programs will be most effective if they occur after a favorable tobacco control policy environment has been established [23]. Thus, the initial strategy should be to focus on: policies aimed at reducing tobacco consumption, such as increased taxes and prices; 100% smoke free environments in all public places and workplaces; and a comprehensive ban of all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Creating this favorable policy environment first is especially important for school programs on preventing tobacco consumption, given the results of a recent literature review showing their ineffectiveness [24] and according to tobacco control policies recommended by WHO [23]. Data in this report further show that over 6 in 10 current smokers want to stop smoking and over 6 in 10 have tried to stop during the past year but have failed. These findings suggest the need to develop, pilot test, and evaluate potential youth cessation programs in accordance with Article 14 of the WHO FCTC and Article 5 of Peruvian Law 28705. Conclusion Between 2000 and 2003, many of the main indicators of the GYTS did not change, given that minimal policies were implemented in Peru during this time [3,23]. With the ratification of the WHO FCTC and the passing of Law 28705, however, new hope has been raised. Development of an effective comprehensive tobacco control program, including population-based intervention efforts to reduce tobacco use - such as smoke-free environment policies, increases in the price of tobacco products, laws that regulate and enforce bans on sales, purchases, and consumption of tobacco products by underage youth, laws that regulate content, labeling, promotion, and advertising of tobacco products, and mass media campaigns - will require careful monitoring and evalua- tion of existing programs and the likely development of new efforts [25,26]. The synergy between the Peruvian leadership in ratifying the WHO FCTC and in supporting the conduct of the GYTS throughout the country offers Peru a unique opportunity to develop, implement and evaluate comprehensive tobacco control policies that can lead to a reduction in tobacco consumption, especially among adolescents. Repeating the GYTS in the future will provide data to assess whether the tobacco control policies in Law 28705 are being implemented and enforced. List of abbreviations used FCTC, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; GTSS, Global Tobacco Surveillance System; GYTS, Global Youth Tobacco Survey; SHS, secondhand smoke; WHO, World Health Organization. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions CWW, NRJ and SA conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, and helped to draft the manuscript. AZ was responsible for national coordination of the study and drafted the manuscript. MS, AP and ACH participated in interpretation of the statistical analysis and drafting of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Acknowledgements We sincerely thank Eduardo Romero and Viviana Maldonado from Cedro Research Area and Eva Chanamé from Nursing Faculty of Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University for their collaboration in the survey.We wish to thank PAHO for their financial support. We acknowledge the students who participated in the GYTS and the survey administrators. The production of this supplement was made possible through a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Pan American Health Organization. This article has been published as part of BMC Public Health Volume 8 Supplement 1, 2008: The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) - linking data to the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The full contents of the supplement are available online at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8?issue=S1. References 1. World Health Organization: WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2003. [http://www.who. int/tobacco/framework/WHO_FCTC_english.pdf] 2. Peru. Ley 28705. Ley General para la prevención y control de los riesgos del consumo de tabaco. Diario Oficial El Peruano. Normas Legales: 316197-8, 06-04-2006. 3. Shafey O, Dolwick S, Guindon GE: Tobacco Control Country Profiles 2003, Peru. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society; 2003 [http://www. cancer.org/downloads/TOB/Peru.pdf] 4. Lopez AD, Colliwish NE, Pha T: A descriptive model of the cigarette epidemic in developed countries. Tobacco Control 1994, 3:242-247. 5. Castro R, Zavaleta A: Epidemiología de las Drogas en la Población Urbana Peruana 2003. Encuesta de Hogares. Lima: Centro de Información y Educación Para la Prevención del Abuso de Drogas CEDRO; 2004. [Monografías de Investigación 23] 6. PERU; Ministerio de Educacion - DEVIDA - ONUDD: Estudio Epidemiológico Sobre el Consumo de Drogas en la Población Escolar de Page 8 of 9 (page number not for citation puroposes)