Occasional smoking on the rise in Denmark

Forty six percent of Danish upper-secondary students smoke either daily or occasionally, according to an Icenews story citing a new survey by the State Institute of Public Health (SIPH).

The survey is said to have revealed a huge increase in the number of young smokers over the past two decades.

The research, which questioned 75,000 16-19-year-olds in Denmark’s fitness centers, showed that though there had been a fall from 17 percent to 12 percent in the number of people smoking on a daily basis during the past 20 years, there had been a big increase in the number of occasional smokers.

SIPH professor Janne Tolstrup reportedly said that people had not come to grips with how huge a problem smoking was to the public’s health.

She said that considering how much work had been done during the past 20 years to advise young people against smoking, the results could not be viewed as a success.

But Health Minister Sophie Lohde denied claims that the numbers proved preventative measures being taken in Denmark are a failure.