VietNamNet Bridge – The cigarette smoking habit in female university female students has reached the high rate of 5.3 percent, a recent survey says.

The survey carried out by HealthBride of Canada of nearly 2,000 female participants under 25 in Hanoi and Thai Binh provinces shows that the rate is lower in high school and elementary schools.

Medical school students do not have much more knowledge than other students about the damage smoking causes to health, said the survey.

Many women say smoking helps them lose weight? (File Photo)

Almost all women think smoking is a bad habit, but many say smoking helps them lose weight and relieve stress. Others say smoking is not harmful because they smoke cigarettes for females.

Of every 20 female students between the ages of 13 and 15, there was one who admitted to smoking in the past.

Asked about the ban on selling cigarettes to teenagers under 18, many students under 18 appeared to be unaware of it, saying that they had never been asked for their age when buying cigarettes.

In October, Hanoi city will launch a campaign on no cigarette smoking in offices and public places and officially apply a ban on smoking in such places in April 2009.

Bao Anh