Did you smoke when you were 13? I did, and so did many of my friends. In those days, it was second nature for youngsters to smoke. Boys did it because they thought it made them look and feel more like men: distinguished, respected, feared. For girls; it showed they were fun loving and grown up.
Years later, as I began to understand the hazards of smoking, I quit – cold turkey. Now, some 20 years on, I have noticed that a number of my friends who carried on smoking are suffering from cancer or heart disease. I can’t help wondering if I should have done more to persuade them to quit.
It has been a long time and I would like to think things have changed. But they haven’t.
Recent figures from Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) from 2000 to 2007 in the Western Pacific Region estimate that of children aged 13 to 15, an average of 13.4% smoke (18.5% of boys and 8.4% of girls). The rough average for this age group in the whole of Asia is one out of five boys and one out of six girls. In Papua New Guinea, it is one out of two boys and in the Cook Islands it is one out of two girls. In the Philippines, one out of four boys smokes cigarettes. And one out of three boys smokes cigarettes in Malaysia, the Federated States of Micronesia and Tuvalu.
Today, I stopped to think about why I started smoking at such an early age. Yes, someone gave me a cigarette. And, yes, I wanted to be accepted by my peers. But the reason I kept on smoking was the image in my head that came from billboards, television and radio. At that young age, I didn't really know what I wanted in life, but I knew for sure that I wanted to be like those people in the advertisements.
The tobacco industry is still using the same pernicious techniques. Then as now, it targets youth in fun and familiar environments – the movies, fashion events, music concerts and sports. Lately, the Internet has been the sea where this marketing net has been cast. It is easy to enter websites that advertise, promote and sell tobacco to minors. Some websites even have click buttons that lead to a page with a lame warning embedded in alluring visuals that encourage further exploration of the site.
Today the industry's marketing net targets half a billion children and youths aged 6‑23 in the Western Pacific Region. The GYTS also show that approximately 55% have seen pro‑tobacco advertising on billboards and almost 70% have seen it in newspapers and magazines. Some 12.7% own an object that has a cigarette brand logo. Cigarettes are now manufactured in peach, green melon, lime, lemon, coconut, cappuccino, strawberry and chocolate flavours. They are also labelled as "lite", "mild" and "low tar" to deceive youngsters into thinking that the product is not harmful. One in two young people say they are not refused purchase because of their age when buying cigarettes in a store. In many countries, they don’t even need to go to a store. They can buy a cigarette stick on the street at any time of the day.
Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. It is the only legal consumer product that kills one third to one half of those who use it as intended by its manufacturers, with its victims dying on average 15 years prematurely.
According to the World Bank, the overall annual cost of healthcare that may be attributed to smoking in high‑income countries is estimated to be between 6% and 15% of total health care costs. This is slightly lower in low- and middle‑income countries as the tobacco epidemic is at earlier stages. However, these countries are likely to see their annual smoking-related costs rise in the future. It is estimated that health care costs and productivity losses amounted to USD 5 million in China in 2000, USD 327 million in Viet Nam in 2005, USD 442 million in Bangladesh in 2003 and USD 2.8 million in the Philippines in 2003.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is designed to curb this epidemic and to protect young people from the diseases that smoking brings. In Asia and the Pacific, countries are working hard to control a scourge that claims two lives every minute. But a lot of work remains to be done.
Under the terms of the FCTC, signatory governments undertake to curb the kind of inducements that first drew me into tobacco use. These commitments are reflected in the slogan for World No Tobacco Day, on 31 May, which calls on governments to “break the tobacco marketing net” and ban the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products.
Special attention is given this year to young people. And this is where surveillance evidence shows a ray of hope. Half of young people surveyed say they have been taught about the dangers of smoking. About 80% of 13-15 year-olds who smoke want to stop. And 80% of young people favour a ban on smoking in public places.
The tobacco industry’s tactics may not have changed since I was 13. But years of tobacco control advocacy have resulted in less acceptance of smoking as a norm and higher levels of awareness of the hazards of tobacco use. Youngsters are still after the fun and the excitement of not knowing what lies ahead. They still burn with a desire to shape their own lives and determine their own futures. But they know that smoking cigarettes is no longer part of that future.
All we need to do now is to help make it happen for them.

Dalam sesi ceramah dan perbincangan, beliau menekankan beberapa persoalan seperti perlakuan dan masalah sosial, punca-punca masalah sosial terjadi dan perlaksanaan program-program remaja perdana yang sedia ada. Salah satu persoalan yang menarik dibincangkan ialah mengenai teori-teori yang dikemukakan oleh para penyelidik perlakuan manusia terutama sekali remaja amnya. Menurut Gottfredson dan McNeil (1991), pada peringkat remaja, mereka mudah terikut-ikut dengan perangai rakan-rakan mereka disekeliling. Manakala menurut Bettelheim (1950), pada peringkat remaja, mereka mengubah seluruh cara hidup daripada alam kanak-kanak ke alam yang lebih matang dan dewasa. Walaupun begitu, menurut Nik Aziz Nik Pa (1998), beliau telah mengenal pasti tiga faktor penyumbang kepada ketegangan dalam zaman remaja iaitu perubahan fizikal yang cepat dan kematangan jantina, kedudukan sebagai manusia pinggiran dan akhir sekali, keperluan menyediakan diri untuk dunia dewasa. Melalui pembentang teori-teori ini, para peserta dapat mengetahui punca permasalahan sosial secara asasnya.
Selepas permainan tersebut, penceramah seterusnya membincangkan topik punca-punca sesebuah program remaja tidak berkesan. Punca-puncanya adalah seperti berikut:
Pada jam 11.15 pagi, sesi seterusnya dijalankan iaitu sesi bengkel. Dalam sesi bengkel ini, seramai 60 orang pelajar dipilih dari pelbagai tingkatan yang telah dikenalpasti berisiko tinggi terlibat dengan masalah merokok. Sesi bengkel ini dikendalikan oleh Profesor Madya Razak Haji Lajis, Pengarah Pusat Racun Negara. Sesi ini dimulakan dengan tayangan beberapa video berkaitan bahaya tabiat merokok dan penipuan syarikat tembakau yang berusaha menarik perhatian remaja untuk merokok. Terdapat juga beberapa video yang benar-benar menarik perhatian para pelajar. Ini membuktikan bahawa para pelajar terbabit mengambil perhatian dan peka dengan isi kandungan video terbabit. Selepas tayangan video terbabit, Prof. Madya Razak berbincang dengan para pelajar mengenai maksud tersirat setiap video yang ditayangkan.
Sesi bengkel diteruskan dengan latihan dalam kumpulan (LDK). LDK ini dijalankan supaya para pelajar tidak merasa bosan dan dalam masa yang sama untuk mengetahui adakah mereka masih mengingati apa yang telah disampaikan semasa sesi ceramah yang diadakan tadi. Sebelum LDK ini dimulakan, para pelajar telah dipecahkan kepada dua kumpulan besar. Kumpulan pertama dikenali sebagai Faxtor manakala kumpulan kedua dikenali sebagai Condition Zero. Dalam LDK ini, setiap kumpulan perlu meneka perkataan yang berkaitan dengan kandungan rokok dan kesan-kesan tabiat merokok. Setiap ruangan perkataan ini dikosongkan. Kumpulan-kumpulan tersebut perlu meneka abjad yang terkandung didalam ruangan kosong tersebut. Sekiranya kumpulan tersebut memilih abjad, maka bahagian-bahagian tubuh badan orang lidi akan dilukis (seperti kepala, badan, tangan, kaki, mata, hidung dan mulut) dan berada dalam posisi tergantung. Andainya lukisan orang lidi ini sempurna sifatnya, maka kumpulan tersebut kalah.
Aktiviti LDK diteruskan lagi dengan aktiviti penyediaan poster kumpulan. Untuk aktiviti kali ini, setiap kumpulan perlu mempunyai 10 orang ahli sahaja. Para pelajar diberikan masa selama 5 minit untuk memilih dan membentuk kumpulan. Di akhir masa yang ditetapkan, enam kumpulan berjaya dibentuk. Setiap kumpulan kemudiannya diberikan beberapa naskah surat khabar. Tugas setiap ahli kumpulan ialah mencari dan menggunting berita-berita berkaitan gejala dan masalah sosial didalam surat khabar terbabit. Mereka kemudiannya perlu melekatkan keratan-keratan berita terbabit diatas kad manila yang telah disediakan. Poster-poster mereka ini kemudiannya akan dinilai berdasarkan kesesuaian keratan berita, kreativiti susunan dan gaya persembahan kumpulan. Masa yang diperuntukkan ialah 1 jam 30 minit. Pn. Sulastri dan En. Abdul Harris ditugaskan untuk membantu kumpulan-kumpulan untuk menyiapkan tugasan mereka.
Selesaikan masa yang diberikan, setiap kumpulan perlu berhenti dan membersihkan hasil poster dan sampah-sarap yang terdapat disekeliling mereka. Panel juri terdiri daripada pasukan Pn. Lee Chu Goik. Melalui aktiviti LDK ini, para pelajar didedahkan dengan cara dan gaya komunikasi, teknik percambahan fikiran, cara persembahan dan akhir sekali semangat kerjasama antara ahli kumpulan. Bagi setiap kumpulan yang berani dan berjaya membentangkan hasil poster kumpulan, mereka diberikan hadiah saguhati yang disediakan oleh Pusat Racun Negara. Di akhir aktiviti dan penilaian, kumpulan Impak Maksima telah dinobatkan sebagai pemenang manakala Ketua Kumpulannya dinobatkan sebagai Ketua Kumpulan Terbaik.