Almost half of Czechs aged 15-18 smoke, numbers growing

Prague, Oct 16 (CTK) - Almost a half of Czechs aged 15 to 18 smoke and the numbers of child and youth smokers are growing every year, expert in smoking-related diseases Eva Kralikova has said.

Experts warn that the insufficiently developed brain of young people becomes dependent on nicotine more quickly than the adult people's and the immature organism is much more sensitive to harmful substances.

Nine out of ten smokers light their first cigarette before they turn 18. Young people experiment with smoking at 12 years of age for the first time, in Prague it is at ten years.

About 250,000 juveniles smoke in the 10.5 million Czech Republic.

"Still about five years ago boys smoke more frequently than girls. Now the proportion is turning," Kralikova said.

Dependence on nicotine is hereditary at 60 percent.

"In our body there is nothing that would not be affected by smoking," Kralikova said.