German Center for Health Education reported that only 13% of German teenagers started smoking. It is the lowest percentage for last 30 years. The increase of awareness about the health consequences of smoking is due to smoking prevention programs effective work. The Center for Health Education's Director, Elisabeth Pott, said: "For most young people, smoking today is totally ‘out’; Not smoking has become mainstream in our society, especially among youths and adolescents."
In United States smoking is still a problem, but it’s getting better. More and more Americans are starting to strive for healthier lifestyle. It seems that teenagers don’t think that smoking is cool anymore. However, even though U.S. spends same amount of money on anti-smoking programs, they are not as effective as German programs.
In my opinion smoking is a problem which is never going to be solved. The only way to solve the problem is to make smoking harmless, which is almost impossible. The percentage of smokers will be less if society fully disapproved this bad habit. When I was a teenager and tried smoking older kid caught me and promised me a beating if he sees me smoking again. I never smoked since, maybe that would be the best prevention program.
In the U.S. I think smoking is actually starting at a younger age. More teens want to try it. It is unfortunate and a bad habit to start. Your chances to get lung cancer are high for when you get older. Hopefully in the near future the percentage of smokers will decrease.
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