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Nevada politico, biochemist decry smoking mystique 

A Nevada politician and a biochemist who headed a state anti-tobacco organization agreed Friday that a National Cancer Institute study about media and smoking is dead on regarding a deadly serious topic.

Sen. John Ensign, a Republican who hails from Las Vegas, and Dr. Chris Pritsos, a University of Nevada, Reno biochemist, agreed popular media images that include persons smoking can lure youth into a lifelong habit dangerous to their health.

A cancer institute report found that media, whether popular culture or advertising, can have that impact on young persons.

Sen. Ensign issued a statement from his Las Vegas office saying he battled for years to make people aware of this problem, and he will keep up the battle "to end popular culture's hold over children when they are contemplating whether to light up and start a lifetime of tobacco dependency and health risk."

Dr. Pritsos, head of the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition from 2002-06, said the research is clear that glorifying tobacco usage has an impact. He said images of smokers give the impression that smoking is okay, that it is the norm.

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