Kids get No smoking message Japan

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 20 May 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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The Wakayama prefectural board of education recently distributed a brochure to all third- and fourth-year primary school students explaining the ill effects of smoking.

The move is unusual in that the education ministry's curriculum guidelines stipulate that students do not learn about smoking until their fifth- and sixth-year primary school health classes.

Since research shows that children become interested in smoking in their fourth-year of primary school, the prefectural board aims to give children information about smoking earlier.

Among the attention-grabbing questions on the front page of the four-page brochure are: How many substances in a cigarette are bad for your health? How many people die annually from smoking-related diseases?

The brochure explains that smoking is an "enemy" when it comes to playing sports and studying, and students are advised not to smoke even if others encourage them to do so.

The board of education issued about 10,000 brochures, but how they are used is left up to the schools.

According to research conducted among about 106,000 middle and high school students, 4,182, or 7.66 percent of male students, and 2,538, or 4.9 percent of female students, first smoked when they were in the fourth-year of primary school or younger.

Considering the research conducted at the request of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the board of education decided to teach students about the risks of smoking earlier.

Yuko Takahashi, a professor of Nara Women's University, says that teaching the ill effects of smoking from an early age will make children unlikely to smoke as adults.

Takahashi who runs the Web site, "Quit Smoking," said that the board of education's move will be very effective.

Copyright 2004 The Yomiuri Shimbun

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