Discuss Three Policies to Reduce the Level of Cigarette Smoking Amongst Under 21s.

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Discuss three policies to reduce the level of cigarette smoking amongst under 21s. It is estimated that every year more than 205,000 children in the UK start smoking. Among adult smokers, about two-thirds report that they took up smoking before the age of 18 and over 80% before the age of 20. The latest survey of adult smokers shows that almost two-fifths (40%) had started smoking regularly before the age of 16. It has a big impact on their health. For example it causes serious risks to respiratory health both in the short and long term. People who smoke are two to six times more susceptible to coughs and increased phlegm, wheeziness and shortness of breath than those who do not smoke. Smoking impairs lung growth and initiates premature lung function decline which may lead to an increased risk of chronic obstructive lung disease later in life. The earlier children become regular smokers and persist in the habit as adults, the greater the risk of developing lung cancer or heart disease. The above diagram shows that costs and benefits of smoking under 21. The blue triangle is the welfare lost, this is the difference between all the social costs and social benefits. The area between the blue lines under the triangle are the costs. It is clear that there is many more costs than benefits of smoking under 21, which is why it needs to be prevented as much as possible. One way of reducing smoking in under 21’s is to negatively advertise it. If you visually show people the negative effects of smoking, then it is likely to have an impact on them, they are more likely to think before lighting another cigarette. For example, there was a television advertisement showing a children asking adults who were smoking for a lighter, every adult in the film reminded the children that it was bad to smoke, the children then handed the adults a piece of paper that said ‘you worry

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