ANA has adopted the Surgeon General's goal of a smoke free society by the year 2000, has actively supported anti-tobacco legislation at the state and federal levels, called for nurses to offer assistance to smokers at every point of contact, and asked nurses to serve as role models in their work places and communities by not smoking. It is appalling that tobacco, which leads to disease and death, is the only consumer product that is not regulated for health and safety purpose. Perhaps one of the cruelest tragedies is that America's youth continue to start to smoke at an alarming rate despite the well-documented dangers of smoking. Teen smoking is at an all-time high, with smoking among youth in grades 9 through 12 increasing from 27 percent in 1991 to 35 percent in 1995 and the average age of today's young smoker is 14. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
Smoking is responsible for one out of every five deaths in the United States.
Cigarettes kill more Americans than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders, suicides, drugs and fires combined. Parent and other household members' smoking is directly linked to chronic ear infections and respiratory problems in infant children. To discourage tobacco use among young people and prevent an increase in death and disease from this addiction, we must reduce access to these products and increase the availability of prevention and education programs. President Clinton has shown his strong resolve to do that by working toward restricting cigarette advertising and by backing the FDA's plan to regulate tobacco products as drug delivery devices. The new FDA rule will help our youth lead smoke-free lives because there is a 90 percent chance that our youth will refrain from smoking if they do not pick up a cigarette before age 19.