Agency warns of candy-like tobacco

Parents: Beware of nicotine posing as candy and alcohol that tastes like punch.

That's the combined heads-up given this week by the state Department of Health and a grass-roots parents group trying to quell underage drinking and tobacco use.

Smoking and other uses of tobacco products continue to decline, but nicotine is coming at children in breath mints, candy and toothpicks, said Amy Sands, program manager for the health department's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program.

"The products are designed to make tobacco addiction more accessible as well as to promote the dual use of cigarettes and smokeless products, creating an even stronger addiction," she said.

ParentsEmpowered.org kicked off the fourth year of its ongoing public awareness campaign against underage drinking Thursday with some good news.

Statewide averages for underage drinking are down across all grade levels for lifetime use, including use within a 30-day time frame and binge drinking in general, according to the Student Health and Risk Prevention survey.

The survey also found that teens cited parents' disapproval of alcohol in general as the main reason they don't drink.

The survey, conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, also found an average 4 percent reduction in drinking among teens over the past two years and across every high school grade. That means about:

11,260 fewer Utah children reporting ever trying alcohol in their lifetimes.

5,520 fewer have used alcohol in the past 30 days in the last two years.

2,600 fewer underage binge/heavy drinkers in Utah than two years ago.

While most Utah parents don't drink, 65 percent of them generally agree their child could be exposed to alcohol.

"This is significant since many Utah parents often erroneously believe their children are insulated from the dangers of underage drinking because of their upbringing and their children don't need parents' help to stay alcohol-free," said Parents Empowered spokeswoman Sherri Clark.

Parents should continue to be vigilant about tobacco products as well, said Sands, adding "there is no safe tobacco product," and in any ingested form tobacco causes heart and other organ diseases, cancer and death.