University Of Pennsylvania To Study Why People Still Smoke In 2013
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--The University of Pennsylvania has received a grant to study smoking behaviors. It is a five year, $20 million study that will examines why people still smoke in 2013.
Dr. Robert Hornik, co-principal investigator of the study, says messages about tobacco across various forms of media will be examined.
"In general, there's very little which says oh it's healthy to smoke. So it's not as if people out there are saying that but for example, one of our projects focuses on the color that tobacco companies use on the packs, whether there are implied messages about this pack with this blue color may be safer or this green color may be environmentally good, so at this level packaging might mislead the public and they might underestimate the harm."
Dr. Hornik says other forms of media will also be examined, such as message boards and social media where tobacco is discussed.
He says not only will they collect information about smoking, but they will examine misinformation and its impact on smokers.
