U.S. Smoking Rate Falls to 15 Percent: CDC
U.S. Smoking Rate Falls to 15 Percent: CDC
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Sept. 1, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. smoking rate continues to decline, with just over 15 percent of adults reporting they're current smokers, a new government survey reveals.
That's down from nearly 17 percent in 2014 and almost 18 percent in 2013. The falloff reflects a continued decline that started in 2010 after a decade of no progress against smoking, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday.
Higher tobacco taxes, tough anti-smoking messages and smoke-free laws that ban smoking from indoor and outdoor areas appear to be dissuading even hard-core, heavily addicted smokers from continuing the habit, said Patricia Folan, director of the Center for Tobacco Control at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y.
"I hear from smokers all the time, 'When I can't smoke here, I can't smoke there, when people see me smoke they look at me like I'm a pariah -- it makes me want to not smoke anymore,' " said Folan, who applauded the continued decline of smoking in America.
The new data comes from the CDC's 2015 National Health Interview Survey, an annual survey that tracks a variety of public health issues.
The smoking rate has fallen dramatically since 1965, when 42 percent of adults smoked, the CDC said.
But between 2004 and 2009, progress stalled, and the U.S. smoking rate hovered around 20 percent. Anti-smoking activists wondered if there would be no way to convince the remaining diehard smokers to quit tobacco.
These [new] numbers show that America's current anti-smoking strategy works, and that we need to do "more of the same," said Thomas Carr, director of national policy for the American Lung Association.
Carr cited smoke-free laws as one innovation that's made a real difference. But he added that only one state -- North Dakota -- has passed a comprehensive smoke-free law within the last five years. There still are 22 states that haven't passed any limitations on where a person can smoke, he said.
"It could have an impact on the smoking rate, and definitely would protect more people from secondhand smoke," Carr said.
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Sept. 1, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. smoking rate continues to decline, with just over 15 percent of adults reporting they're current smokers, a new government survey reveals.
That's down from nearly 17 percent in 2014 and almost 18 percent in 2013. The falloff reflects a continued decline that started in 2010 after a decade of no progress against smoking, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday.
Higher tobacco taxes, tough anti-smoking messages and smoke-free laws that ban smoking from indoor and outdoor areas appear to be dissuading even hard-core, heavily addicted smokers from continuing the habit, said Patricia Folan, director of the Center for Tobacco Control at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y.
"I hear from smokers all the time, 'When I can't smoke here, I can't smoke there, when people see me smoke they look at me like I'm a pariah -- it makes me want to not smoke anymore,' " said Folan, who applauded the continued decline of smoking in America.
The new data comes from the CDC's 2015 National Health Interview Survey, an annual survey that tracks a variety of public health issues.
The smoking rate has fallen dramatically since 1965, when 42 percent of adults smoked, the CDC said.
But between 2004 and 2009, progress stalled, and the U.S. smoking rate hovered around 20 percent. Anti-smoking activists wondered if there would be no way to convince the remaining diehard smokers to quit tobacco.
These [new] numbers show that America's current anti-smoking strategy works, and that we need to do "more of the same," said Thomas Carr, director of national policy for the American Lung Association.
Carr cited smoke-free laws as one innovation that's made a real difference. But he added that only one state -- North Dakota -- has passed a comprehensive smoke-free law within the last five years. There still are 22 states that haven't passed any limitations on where a person can smoke, he said.
"It could have an impact on the smoking rate, and definitely would protect more people from secondhand smoke," Carr said.
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