Big Tobacco might have lost some rounds with state government lawsuits, but cigarette companies are running up the score on college campuses like a Top 10 football team playing a weak nonconference opponent. A new report from the American Lung Association shows an “unacceptably high” one of five college students are smokers.
The Lung Association looked at the issue from both sides. It surveyed students at 119 American colleges and kids at 109 schools confirmed they are consistently exposed to tobacco promotions at campus events. Citing last available numbers, the researchers said tobacco companies spent more than $1 million per day, on average, during the 2005-06 school year to fund events and giveaways aimed at college students.
Here’s one reason why Big Tobacco is primed with promotional dollars on campus. Many college kids are social or occasional smokers. Cigarette companies exploit that experimentation and look to make products available in hopes of converting the social smokers into habitual smokers. Bernadette A. Toomey, president and CEO of the Lung Association, said “every college student in American has a target on [his/her] back as far as the tobacco industry is concerned.”
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