The Mid-Western Health Board cancer strategy department yesterday launched an experiment to try to curb an epidemic of cigarette smoking, particularly among teenage girls. Two second-level schools in the region, Presentation Convent, Limerick, and St Caimin's, Shannon, have been selected as the focus of a six-week anti-smoking campaign. Ms Antoinette Slattery, the smoking cessation officer of the board, said the increase in smoking among teenage girls was due to such factors as lack of self-esteem, an obsession with weight and a desire to "look cool".
The board said 21 of the 75 fifth-year students at the convent were smokers, while among 53 fifth-year girls in the Shannon mixed school 19 smoked.