U.S. Smoking Rate Still Stuck at 1 in 5 Adults

(AP)  U.S. smoking rates continue to hold steady, at about one in five adults lighting up regularly, frustrated health officials reported Tuesday.

About 21 percent of U.S. adults were smokers in 2009, about the same percentage as the year before, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The smoking rate - which fell dramatically since the 1960s - has basically been flat since about 2004.

Teen smoking, at nearly 20 percent, has not been improving lately, either.

Health officials believe they've lost momentum because of cuts to anti-tobacco campaigns and shrewd marketing by cigarette companies.

The new report suggests that more than 46 million American adults still smoke cigarettes

"It's tragic," said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden, who calls smoking the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the United States. He estimates that smoking kills 1,000 Americans a day.

Some experts were particularly disheartened by a CDC finding in a second report that nearly all children who live with a smoker - 98 percent - have measurable tobacco toxins in their body.

Experts say tobacco taxes and smoking bans are driving down rates in some states. But nationwide, they say progress has been halted by tobacco company discounts or lack of funding for programs to discourage smoking or to help smokers quit.

The annual smoking report was based on government surveys. The second report looked at levels in the blood of cotinine, a chemical from tobacco smoke, in a total of more than 30,000 nonsmokers between 1999 and 2008.

Overall, detectable levels of cotinine dropped over the 10 years - from about 52 percent to 40 percent. That may be due in part to more smoking bans in workplaces, restaurants and other places.

But there were several bits of bad news in that report, too:

-Most of the decline came about 10 years ago.

-More than half of U.S. children ages 3 to 11 are exposed to secondhand smoke, and the CDC says there is no safe level of exposure.

-There's been virtually no improvement for children who live with a smoker, noted Matthew L. Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington-based research and advocacy organization.

Although the statistics are largely unchanged, advocates said the reports are important. They plan to use the data to pressure national, state and local governments to do more against smoking.

"Without bold action by our elected officials, too many lives, young and old, will suffer needlessly from chronic illness and burdensome health care expenses," Nancy Brown, chief executive of the American Heart Association, said in a statement.

[scottyusa]

Why don't you non smoking nazis just get off the plane? I am a smoker and you guys are killing me, not cigarettes. You did your job by making everyone aware of the danger. What gives you the right to "make" everyone quit? Every smoker I know does not allow smoking in their homes. Here is a parachute so you will have a safe landing. Leave us alone!

[magnumdr]

I smoke cigarettes. I also am a veteran of a war. The people that choose to go to war for their Country seem to have a much better understanding what freedom really means. The USA goes to war so people can live their lives in freedom and not be harassed or discriminated against by others. I now find myself in a differant type of war, the war to not be harassed or be discriminated against in my own Country just because I smoke cigarettes. The Media and some vocal people here seem to like to treat a smoking person like we don't belong here. Some have even went as far as to call us killers. Is this the way that America should tret another person just because they smoke cigarettes. It seems that most people like to make up their own stories about how a cigarette smoker can kill everybody. All I want is to be treated with respect, just like any other citizen here gets. Put yourself in our shoes and have to look at all of the pictures and listen to all of our fellow Americans condeming us just because we smoke cigarettes. Many Americans act like cigarette smokers should be put on a deserted island to all die and just go away. Guess what? every person in the USA has the right to be treated with respect and dignety without being harassed or discriminated against no matter what we choose to do as long as it is not illegal. Please stop trying to shame cigarette smokers just because you think it is alright to do so. You all should feel the same shame that you impose on all of us smokers. Please stop the harassment and the discrimination that you do to smokers every day. Do you really think that you have the right to do this. Some of you make me regret fighting for our freedom when you talk like we don't matter because we smoke. Thank's a lot for the brotherly love and no respect that you have given to all of us. Signed; a free American?

[incog-nito]

Anti-smoking efforts have had an effect, and it's a good thing. If you don't think so, go to a country where there is little control or education, and you'll see the vast majority of people puffing away, children included. The peer pressure from all the smokers around them almost obligates people to do it. I've been in countries where people you meet constantly shove a cigarette to your face, and appear insulted if you refuse. Can you imagine a kid growing up in that environment?

I support your right to smoke, but I also support efforts to curb it. Personally I don't have any use for inhaling burnt leaves, but if it's your thing, go for it.

[Void-Master]

Increasing the price of tobacco products via taxes has done little to curb smoking and has fueled a rather lucrative black market. People who chose to smoke are going to do so regardless what the government tells them.

[sdmarathe]

the biggest reason is that even though the govt collects a boatload of taxes from smokers - they spend nothing on smoking cessation options. IF a smoker wants to quit - the options are tough with little govt support - the nicotine patches or gums etc are so freaking expensive.. Why can't smokers get them subsidized or free? We live in a society where condoms are distributed free or cheap - but nicotine gums are super costly..

[tiredofeverything]

"Health officials believe they've lost momentum because of cuts to anti-tobacco campaigns and shrewd marketing by cigarette companies."

No... they've lost momentum because, believe it or not, people want to smoke. Especially during stressful days like these.

The food you eat, air you breath, booze you drink and just about everything you do in one way or another can and will adversely affect your health.

Beside, being one of those 'I only eat the right foods, exercise constantly and never drink types' are just as likely to drop dead early as anyone else.

I'd rather have a little fun and die 10 years early, than be a healthy but miserable and boring sot who lives another 10.

It's quality of life, not quantity.

[obicera1]

Smoking is fun?

[obicera1]

So smoking is fun? "Hey guys, lets all smoke, it's so much fine." It's a wicked addiction that costs you a dollar an hour in your pay to feed the tobacco companies who have convinced you it is 'fun'. Yes you will die 10 or more years earlier than you otherwise likely would have, a slow miserable death gasping for your last breath. Now that sounds like fun.