A SHOCKING report has revealed that more than a third of all 15-year-old girls in Peterborough are regular smokers.
The shocking figure emerged from research carried out by medical experts as they develop a strategy to improve people's health across the region.
In the Healthy Futures report, commissioned by the East of England Regional Assembly's health team, pub
lic health experts discovered 34 per cent of 15-year-old girls in the city were nicotine addicts.
And many teenage boys are also ignoring the warnings about the harmful effects of tobacco, with 25 per cent of 15-year-olds smoking each day.
The national average for smoking is 23 per cent for all 15-year-olds.
Bad role models such as celebrity couple Kate Moss and Pete Doherty are being blamed for the teenagers taking up the harmful habit.
Now the Peterborough Quit Smoking service (PQS) has vowed to step up its visits to city schools to tell teenagers about the lethal effects of smoking.
Jane Beever, PQS stop smoking specialist, said: "Smoking among teenagers is not going down, despite the awareness of its effects.
"Girls in particular are often influenced by role models, such as Kate Moss and Charlotte Church, who have both been well-known smokers.
"Some girls also believe smoking will help them lose weight, but this 'meal replacement' theory has always been a myth."
The PQS, funded by the Greater Peterborough Primary Care Partnership, currently has three advice clinics in city schools, but is planning to train more volunteers
to become smoking cessation advisers.
Norma Turner, a former school nurse is leading the scheme. She explained how the advisers were already helping hardcore smokers to quit.
She said: "The advisers are currently supporting 23 young people, who each smoked about 100 cigarettes a week before they came to us.
"Many of their family members smoked, so we help them to find ways to avoid temptation and cope with the stress of quitting."
John Gribble, headteacher of Bretton Woods Community School, in Flaxlands, Bretton, said: "Pupils are informed about the effects of smoking and peer group pressure. We do a number of games so they get the idea about how to say no.
"If we catch a pupil smoking, we give them an educational punishment sheet which tells them why smoking is bad for them.
"The child development programme also tells girls the effect smoking can have on their babies, making them smaller and less healthy."
Zoe Harvey, tobacco control officer for the city's public health network, said it was vital that teenagers stop smoking.
She said: "Tobacco smoke contains around 4,000 chemicals, many of which are poisonous and cause cancer and heart disease."
