Crop Specialist Questions Tobacco Article

I have just read the Journal article "Tobacco Risk Awareness" by Robert Duane Plymale (Summer 1992) in which he describes a program conducted by the Ohio Cooperative Extension Service directed at youth at risk. I was amazed and dismayed by this article.

The article states as a "fact" that 11 years of age is the average age for starting tobacco and substance abuse. Where is the documentation? The first paragraph also states that, "Tobacco use by adolescents is related to using other chemicals because nicotine addiction may step up their use of other drugs." This statement is referenced, but is extremely subjective in nature.

Plymale then states that "a large portion" of the tobacco industries' three billion dollars annual promotional expenditures is directed at youth. Again, documentation is lacking for this statement. He does, however, present data that indicate five percent of the respondents of a survey were influenced to use tobacco based on advertising. Where is the link? In the body of the text, Plymale asserts that a majority of the respondents to the survey who used tobacco products had family members who were aware of this use, but the data presented had less than half of the parents aware of this use. The quoting of figures not presented, while overlooking figures that were less dramatic, would seem more appropriate in a tabloid.

With the pronounced anti-tobacco tone of the article, can the project and its results be viewed as anything other than political? Yes, youth should be discouraged from the use of tobacco; but, the underlying issue is what motivates them to start. Tobacco use is probably symptomatic of other problems that face youth and its use should be addressed in that context. Projects that can be implemented that would diminish the "need" for youth to use tobacco as a statement to the world would be more beneficial to all.

Carroll M. Sasscer, Jr.
Crop Science Extension Specialist
North Carolina State University
Waynesville, North Carolina

This article is online at http://www.joe.org/joe/1992winter/let2.html.

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