UK Teens: Smoking Down, Cell Phones Up

L O N D O N, Nov. 3 -- British teens are smoking less, and talking more on cell phones. A couple of researchers think that may not be a coincidence.

The cell phone seems to compete with cigarettes as teen statements of fashion and rebellion, the scientists suggested in a letter published in the British Medical Journal.

Smoking Down, Cell Phones Up

While cigarette smoking among British 15-year-olds has dropped from 30 percent in 1996 to 23 percent in 1999, cell phone ownership had risen sharply over the same period to about 70 percent today, the scientists noted. “The mobile phone has a niche in teenagers’ lives that occupies the same place as cigarettes. It meets the same needs,” said one of the theory’s proponents, Clive Bates, director of Action on Smoking and Health in London. “Many kids can’t afford to do both.” “It sounds perfectly reasonable,” said Sir Richard Doll, the Oxford University professor who first confirmed the link between smoking and cancer. “We’ve just got to sit and watch it for longer, to see if it turns out to be real.”

Different in United States

However, American researchers say any link would probably not be mirrored in the United States. Saul Shiffman, professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, is skeptical and believes the teen smokers and cell phone users are different types of adolescents. Smokers tend to be from lower income groups. Teen use of cell phones boomed in Britain with the spread of “pay-as-you-go” service, which require no credit checks, no parental approval and prevents running up huge bills. In the United States, cell phones are restricted to affluent teens and are much more expensive to use than conventional phones, said Joann Schellenbach, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society.

Cigarettes Cheaper in United States

Cigarettes are cheaper in the United States, ranging from about $2.50 to $5 a pack. In Britain, a pack costs about $6.