Survey shows Iowa teens smoking more than national average

The Iowa Department of Public Health today released the results of the state’s first youth survey on tobacco use. Department director Dr. Stephen Gleason presented the results in front of a mural of Teddy Roosevelt at Roosevelt Middle School in Mason City. Gleason says Iowans need to band together in the battle against tobacco. He says Teddy Roosevelt is a good symbol because battling tobacco is a war.Gleason says the survey shows Iowa is above the national average for children using tobacco.He says 12-percent of Iowa middle school students use tobacco, that’s above the national average of nine percent. A third of Iowa high school students smoke, higher than the 28-percent national average. Division of Tobacco Use, Prevention and Control director Cathy Callaway says the problem cannot be attacked from just one angle.Callaway says the department has received a lot of input from teens that recently participated in a summit to discuss ways to discourage tobacco use.Twenty-six middle schools and twenty-seven high schools participated in the survey.