Medical tourism tapped by employers for cost savings, teen smoking boosted by anti-smoking ads, says study, and more consumer health news from NewsTarget

Tucson, Ariz. – Tobacco industry-funded anti-smoking ads aimed at discouraging teen smoking actually caused teens to smoke more, according to a new report by Australian researchers published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Phillip Morris' "Talk: They'll Listen" ad campaign -- designed to get parents to verbally dissuade their kids from taking up smoking -- caused high-schoolers to want to smoke more. The study's authors claim that the ads were actually meant to spur teen smoking, since most teens spurn their parents' advice.

Also, the National Coalition on Health Care reports about 500,000 Americans traveled overseas last year to undergo surgeries that would have cost two to three times more in the United States. Medical tourism has risen in the last few years, with U.S. employer-sponsored health insurance premiums skyrocketing and average of 87 percent over the last six years.

These stories and more appear on NewsTarget.com, the independent natural health news source for consumers. They can be found at:

Anti-smoking ads cleverly boost smoking among teens

http://www.newstarget.com/020996.html

Employers increasingly tapping medical tourism for cost savings

http://www.newstarget.com/020999.html

Birth control patch harms women’s health, lawsuit alleges

http://www.newstarget.com/020994.html

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