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This is a harsh punishment indeed, and for one, I don't smoke.
What benefit is there from smoking? At least I do something for a cause, or for its benefit.
Is there any cause to smoke, or is there any benefit to it?
But I do agree, the punishment is unwarranted.
Read the news story here.
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Kids, as you always hear it from older folks, not everything that you see on TV, you would do as well. Learn to differentiate from what is good and what is bad – a lot of times, being sleek or groovy is not the beneficial path to take…
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Posted: 01 June 2009 1913 hrs
MELBOURNE: Long-running US cartoon show "The Simpsons" may inadvertently promote smoking with its frequent depictions of the habit and references to cigarettes, Australian research has found.
While smoking may be responsible for Krusty the Clown's heart condition and sisters Patty and Selma's raspy voices, the show may promote tobacco use simply by showing it in so many episodes, the research concluded.
University of Sydney public health specialist Guy Eslick examined instances of smoking in the first 18 seasons of the show about the dysfunctional family from Springfield, trawling through some 400 episodes in all.
He found that smoking was depicted 795 times over the 18-season period, featuring in a negative context 35 per cent of the time, positive two per cent and neutral 63 per cent.
Most of the time, 63 per cent, the characters shown smoking were adults, although children and teenagers featured in eight per cent of references, with the rest made up of nicotine-addicted animals.
Eslick said cartoon characters had been shown to be effective tools in marketing cigarettes to children, citing the long-running Joe Camel campaign in the United States.
He said research had also shown that the more children were exposed to cigarettes in movies and on television, the more likely they were to take up the habit.
"In conclusion, it is clear that smoking is a frequent event on The Simpsons television show, and that even instances of smoking being reflected in a negative way, particularly among child and adolescent characters, could have an impact in prompting children to smoke cigarettes," Eslick concluded.
The research was published in the Medical Journal of Australia Monday. - AFP/il
From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.
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Kids, as you always hear it from older folks, not everything that you see on TV, you would do as well. Learn to differentiate from what is good and what is bad – a lot of times, being sleek or groovy is not the beneficial path to take…
----------
Posted: 01 June 2009 1913 hrs
MELBOURNE: Long-running US cartoon show "The Simpsons" may inadvertently promote smoking with its frequent depictions of the habit and references to cigarettes, Australian research has found.
While smoking may be responsible for Krusty the Clown's heart condition and sisters Patty and Selma's raspy voices, the show may promote tobacco use simply by showing it in so many episodes, the research concluded.
University of Sydney public health specialist Guy Eslick examined instances of smoking in the first 18 seasons of the show about the dysfunctional family from Springfield, trawling through some 400 episodes in all.
He found that smoking was depicted 795 times over the 18-season period, featuring in a negative context 35 per cent of the time, positive two per cent and neutral 63 per cent.
Most of the time, 63 per cent, the characters shown smoking were adults, although children and teenagers featured in eight per cent of references, with the rest made up of nicotine-addicted animals.
Eslick said cartoon characters had been shown to be effective tools in marketing cigarettes to children, citing the long-running Joe Camel campaign in the United States.
He said research had also shown that the more children were exposed to cigarettes in movies and on television, the more likely they were to take up the habit.
"In conclusion, it is clear that smoking is a frequent event on The Simpsons television show, and that even instances of smoking being reflected in a negative way, particularly among child and adolescent characters, could have an impact in prompting children to smoke cigarettes," Eslick concluded.
The research was published in the Medical Journal of Australia Monday. - AFP/il
From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.
How about jammin' n rockin' with the youth – for an MP personnel? Now that's something!
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TO ENCOURAGE the youth to adopt a smoke-free lifestyle, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) held a three-day event over the weekend, in line with World No Tobacco Day.
Activities to demonstrate how a smoke-free lifestyle can be hip and cool included a freestyle football demonstration, hip hop dance and guitar hero competitions.
To conclude the event, HPB staged a rock concert titled "Rockin' without Smokin'" at Plaza Singapura Open Plaza yesterday.
According to the National Health Surveillance Survey in 2007, the average age at which both male and female smokers started experimenting with cigarettes was 16 years.
A survey last year by the HPB also showed that 9 per cent of young people aged13 to 16 smoked and nearly one in five teenagers in Singapore thought that smoking is not harmful.
Asked whether anti-smoking campaigns are an effective way to bring down the figures, Deputy Director of the HPB's Youth Health Division V Prema said: "Campaigns are just one form of reaching out to the youth. We've got other measures (such as) peer-led approaches, so there are different ways of going out to them."
The Student Health Survey 2006 found that peer influence is a significant factor for smokers, with 95 per cent of youth smokers having close friends who smoked.
From TODAYOnline.com –Singapore News, Monday, 01-Jun-2009; see the source article here.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=7b457e85-1412-429c-b37e-67d312505f6c)
How about jammin' n rockin' with the youth – for an MP personnel? Now that's something!
----------
TO ENCOURAGE the youth to adopt a smoke-free lifestyle, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) held a three-day event over the weekend, in line with World No Tobacco Day.
Activities to demonstrate how a smoke-free lifestyle can be hip and cool included a freestyle football demonstration, hip hop dance and guitar hero competitions.
To conclude the event, HPB staged a rock concert titled "Rockin' without Smokin'" at Plaza Singapura Open Plaza yesterday.
According to the National Health Surveillance Survey in 2007, the average age at which both male and female smokers started experimenting with cigarettes was 16 years.
A survey last year by the HPB also showed that 9 per cent of young people aged13 to 16 smoked and nearly one in five teenagers in Singapore thought that smoking is not harmful.
Asked whether anti-smoking campaigns are an effective way to bring down the figures, Deputy Director of the HPB's Youth Health Division V Prema said: "Campaigns are just one form of reaching out to the youth. We've got other measures (such as) peer-led approaches, so there are different ways of going out to them."
The Student Health Survey 2006 found that peer influence is a significant factor for smokers, with 95 per cent of youth smokers having close friends who smoked.
From TODAYOnline.com –Singapore News, Monday, 01-Jun-2009; see the source article here.
