At most office buildings it has become a familiar sight to see groups of puffers furtively crowded in doorways or onto balconies taking that quick smoke break. We all know the risks. The report shows that despite more than 35 years' effort to reduce smoking through health warnings on tobacco products, advertisements, education and physician involvement, the message is not getting through. Before the 1900s, lung cancer was rare. Now it is the No 1 cancer killer of women, having surpassed breast cancer in 1987.
Teenage girls appear to be at particular risk of becoming smokers.
The report, which also examined the role of advertisements in tobacco use among women, also says tobacco advertising aimed at women began in the 1920s, when one brand of cigarettes began advertising an association between weight control and smoking cigarettes. There was a 300 percent increase in sales of this cigarette in the first year of the advertising campaign. You'll find a lot of tobacco advertisements, which show slim, trim, healthy appearing people. This rate differs by age, ethnicity and education level. Children whose mothers or caregivers smoke aren't the only ones at risk of illness from second-hand smoke.