Health organization says children are overexposed to advertisements for harmful substances

By Staff Writer

Members of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently warned that U.S. children are overexposed to images of alcohol and drugs.

According to SILive.com, an official on AAP's Council on Communication and Media’s Executive Committee said that more than $25 billion per year is spent on advertising for tobacco, alcohol and prescription drugs. Most of the marketing campaigns show that the substances generally have a positive effect on the consumer.

"We are one of the few western countries to still allow tobacco and alcohol advertising," Strasburger said. "It makes no sense to spend six billion dollars a year to promote smoking to adolescents in this country."

The AAP released a policy statement titled "Children, Adolescents, Substance Abuse and the Media," which included several statistics to support their stance against certain advertising practices. The group stated that 50 percent of smokers begin by age 13 and 90 percent by 19.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, early experimenters and smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to experience behavioral problems by grade 12.