“Fancy,” “posh” and “pretty” – these are all words used by children in Cancer Research UK’s new video to describe a selection of current cigarette packets. Looking at one of the packs, a little boy says: “I think it would be quite fun to play with. It makes you almost happy looking at it.”
For most of us the idea that children are attracted to these deadly products is simply shocking. Cancer Research UK statistics show that more than 4,000 people died of lung cancer in Scotland in 2010.
This risk of developing this devastating disease increases significantly in smokers and is just one of the cancers that can be the consequence of an addiction that is promoted to women as being glamorous and to men as offering maturity and popularity.
There is much we can do to prevent a new generation of children from starting to smoke in the first place.
