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Decline in youth smoking continues, CDC says

08.23.2012

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that fewer American youths are smoking today than in the year 2000. However, the percentages aren't plummeting at the rate they were in the late '90s and early '00s.

This most recent data, released in a study titled "Current Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students" from the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, says that as of 2011, 30 percent of high school males and 18 percent of teenage females were using some form of tobacco. Twenty-five percent of males and 17 percent of females used smoked tobacco as opposed to SNUS or "chew" products. Hardly any high school females, less than 2 percent, used smokeless tobacco. In junior high school, the percentages of tobacco users fell to 8 percent of among males and 6 percent of females.  

"An overall decline in tobacco use is good news, but although four out of five teens don't smoke, far too many kids start to smoke every day. Most tobacco use begins and becomes established during adolescence," said CDC director Thomas Frieden.

The CDC says cigarette use and secondhand smoke result in 443,000 preventable deaths in America every year. Nonetheless, 4,000 minors smoke their very first cigarette every day.

Speaking to HealthDay, CDC Smoking and Health director Tim McAfee said that 18 to 25-year-olds are the biggest tobacco users in the country, and claimed that the tobacco industry is compensating for a decrease in tobacco use among older adults by targeting the youth market. Worse yet, McAfee told the news source that states have been slashing their anti-tobacco education and control programs by as much as 40 percent.

In the private sector, however, Some companies offer workers financial incentives for smoking cessation through a healthcare wellness program, as smoking cigarettes can lead to lung cancer, emphysema, and other conditions that could eventually result in an individual requiring emergency medicine.

Categories: Health and Wellness 

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