NEW YORK, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 70% of America's kids think tobacco should be regulated by the FDA, according to a poll conducted by Scholastic, the global children's publishing and media company. In anticipation of tomorrow's Supreme Court heari

More than 165,000 children voted on Scholastic's tobacco poll, with an overwhelming response -- seven out of ten (or more than 115,000) students voted in favor of the regulation of tobacco by the U.S. Government's Food and Drug Administration. Scholastic posed a series of related poll questions to young people through its classroom magazines, including Scholastic News®, Junior Scholastic® and its new teen magazine, New York Times Upfront(TM). Polls probed opinions on tobacco and nicotine at a variety of age levels: 70% of students believe that the FDA should regulate tobacco. 96% of students believe that nicotine is a harmful drug. New York Times Upfront surveyed teen behavior and attitudes on smoking: -- Nearly 70% of teens think smoking is "dumb" or "disgusting," while 19% said smoking was "OK, but not for me." -- 39% of teens said they would not date a smoker. -- 40% of teens said peer pressure was the reason most people take up smoking, 23% sited boredom and 14% believed smoking was a way to act grown up. -- 61% of teen smokers polled started before they turned 13 years old. ``America's kids are delivering a clear message to the Supreme Court, the FDA and the country's tobacco companies,'' said David Goddy, editor-in-chief, Scholastic Classroom Magazines. ``This generation of teenagers believe that nicotine is a drug, and therefore that the FDA should be able to protect young people from the dangers of smoking. The enormous response to these important polls demonstrate that anti-tobacco messages are getting through to young people across the country.'' Scholastic News Zone, on the newly launched Scholastic.com web site for teachers, parents and children, features ``Tobacco Goes To Court,'' a special report providing news updates about the Supreme Court tobacco hearings, where children can continue to vote, debate and post comments on whether the FDA should regulate tobacco at http://www.scholastic.com. Scholastic has consistently polled student opinions on tobacco for more than 30 years through its classroom magazines. Scholastic (Nasdaq: SCHL - news), the global children's publishing and media company, creates and distributes innovative and quality educational materials for use in school textbooks, magazines, technology, and teacher materials and engaging and appropriate products for use at home ? books, magazines, software, television programming, videos and toys. Building long-term relationships with teachers, parents and children since 1920, Scholastic is unique in its understanding of what kids want and need. The company is the world leader in children's book clubs and book fairs, where children purchase books and software for their use at home. Internationally, Scholastic operates wholly-owned companies in Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Hong Kong, and India. Scholastic's corporate information can be found at http://www.scholastic.com.

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