Based on current trends 250 million children alive in the world today will eventually die due to tobacco. Half of these will die in middle age thus losing on average 22 years of normal life expectancy. Ten to 14 years after quitting, the risk of mortality from cancer is almost that of a person who has never smoked. While, there has been a recent decrease in tobacco consumption in the developed world, tobacco use is increasing in the developing countries. International tobacco companies are now exploit global communications and the Internet so as to glamorize tobacco to everyone, especially young people.
Adolescence is an impressionable time where opinions, ideas, and beliefs are being formed.
Peer pressure and a desire to 'fit in' and experiment are powerful forces in shaping young people's lives. Globally, young people are starting to smoke at younger and younger ages. The consequences of youth smoking are far-spread. Those who start smoking at younger ages have a harder time deciding to stop and maintaining abstinence 2 . The health risks of smoking are directly related to the age of tobacco initiation and the length of dependence.