SEATCA

The percentage of teenage girls who smoke, which is higher than of teenage boys, is worrying, especially when there are girls who started smoking even before reaching the age of 10, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said Friday.

She said the 2nd National Health Morbidity and Mortality Survey (NHMS11) conducted in 2003 found that 28.8 per cent of teenage girls smoked, more than double the figure for boys, which was 14.1 per cent.

"This trend is very worrying as it clearly showed that there was a serious increase in the number of female smokers who started at a very young age.

MANILA, Philippines - The Agro-Industrial Productivity Exponents (APEX) and the Philippine Association of Tobacco-Based Cooperatives (PATCO), the biggest organizations of tobacco farmers in the country, said the tobacco industry is more than just for cigarette making as they took exception to Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral’s claim that the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) was being “inadvertently used” by tobacco companies to circumvent law by undertaking programs with them to promote their interest.

Cabral cited as an example the Miss Virginia Tobacco 2009 search held last year as part of the weeklong Tobacco Festival in Candon City, Ilocos Sur which she said was graced by NTA Administrator Carlitos Encarnacion, Deputy Speaker Eric Singson and Philip Morris executive Chris Nelson.