World No Tobacco Day: Why teen girls in India are smoking more than ever?

In what can be called an “uncool” development for the country’s public health landscape, an increasing number of teenage girls are taking up smoking.

The latest India Tobacco Control report, released by the Union Health Ministry, indicated that while overall tobacco consumption has gone down across the country, smoking has gone up more than two-fold in adolescent girls.

The report said, “The prevalence of smoking in girls far surpasses that in women, indicating a concerning trend of the younger generation becoming increasingly hooked on tobacco.”

On World No Tobacco Day, let’s take a closer look at the reasons behind this troubling trend and understand the significant health risks cigarettes pose for young girls.

How adolescent smokers are on the rise

According to the report, the past decade has seen a rise in smoking among adolescents, with the most pronounced increase occurring among girls. It said between 2009 and 2019, the smoking rate among girls surged by 3.8 percentage points, reaching 6.2 per cent. In contrast, the smoking rate among boys rose by 2.3 percentage points during the same period.

The World Health Organization (WHO) describes adolescence as the phase of life between childhood and adulthood, from ages 10 to 19.

This alarming trend among adolescent girls comes even as smoking rates among adults have declined, with a 2.2 percentage point drop in men and a 0.4 percentage point reduction in women.

Notably, the prevalence of smoking among girls in 2019 (6.2 per cent) was significantly higher than that among women in 2017 (1.5 per cent), indicating that the younger generation is increasingly turning to the vice.

The report also mentions the prevalence of smoking to be higher among the rural than the urban population.

The two exceptions were cigarette smoking, which was slightly more prevalent among the urban population, and the use of snuff (prevalence of 0.6 per cent for both).

Why are more teens smoking?

One reason for the rise in smoking among teenage girls is that they are maturing fast and like boys, they often turn to cigarettes to cope with angst and appear cool in friend circles. Peer pressure also significantly contributes to this trend.

According to the report, regions in India, such as Goa and the Northeastern States, show a nearly equal prevalence among genders indicating that the gender gap in tobacco use among adolescents is narrowing. In 2019, 7.4 per cent of girls and 9.4 per cent of boys were tobacco users.

For some, smoking can be a particularly appealing habit as it is often portrayed as a symbol of modernity, independence, and rebellion on screen.

Smoking can be a particularly appealing habit for teens as it is often portrayed as a symbol of modernity, independence, and rebellion on screen. AP

“Ever since the regulation to issue warnings when scenes of smoking appear on screen was introduced in 2012, we saw a decline in smoking on screen. However, with OTT platforms, where content without warning was uploaded, there was an increase in onscreen smoking…,” Professor Monica Arora, one of the editors of the report and public health scientist at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

It is not always the consumer, the fault also lies with the marketing of the cigarette manufacturing companies. “Women have largely been an untapped demographic for tobacco companies. This is the reason girls have become a prominent target, with images of smoking as fashionable and a sign of women empowerment," Arora further said.

Vapes and e-cigarettes perceived as the cooler cousin of smoking are also a rising trend among youngsters.

“There is also a worrisome trend of propagating e-cigarettes as safe when they aren’t. They are easily available on portals or in the grey market and are sold without verifying the consumer’s age, completely in violation of the laws,” the professor said.

How smoking affects the health of teen girls

Smoking poses especially severe health risks for teenage girls, leading to a range of immediate and long-term health problems. Among these are respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, including chronic bronchitis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

A 2019 study in the _Journal of the American College of Cardiolog_y found that women under 50 who smoke are at a higher risk of a specific type of serious heart attack compared to men. This increased risk may be due to the interaction between estrogen and the harmful chemicals in cigarettes.

Smoking also negatively impacts reproductive health in teenage girls, increasing the risk of fertility issues, miscarriage, and complications during pregnancy later in life. It can also lead to birth defects like cleft lip and cleft palate.

A study published on PubMed, indicated that women who smoke have a 43 per cent higher risk of experiencing menopause before the age of 50 compared to non-smokers.

The rise in teenage smoking paints a concerning picture for the future, highlighting the urgent need for government and societal intervention.

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With input from agencies_