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Posted on 04/10/2003 3:09:02 PM PDT by GeneD
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Despite the U.S. government's determined effort to wean Americans totally off of cigarettes, a majority of states are reporting a significant jump in the number of adults who are occasional smokers.
The finding, included in a study published on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, could indicate that the anti-tobacco campaigns of the past decade have prompted many smokers to curtail rather than quit their habit.
About 440,000 people in the United States die each year from lung cancer and other diseases caused by smoking, making it the leading preventable cause of death in the nation. There are about 46.5 million smokers in the United States.
"People appear to be making this intermediate step of reducing smoking without quitting, and that is not the best strategy for reducing the risk of disease," said Terry Pachecek, associate director of science for the CDC's Office of Smoking and Health.
He noted that many nicotine addicts who cut down on smoking have a tendency to become more efficient smokers, taking deeper or a greater number of puffs of a cigarette to get their fix. This practice can easily offset the expected health benefits of reducing smoking, Pachecek said.
Between 1996 and 2001, a total of 31 states and the District of Columbia reported significant jumps in the percentage of current smokers who said they had lit up on at least some days in a given month, according to the CDC study.
Current smokers were defined as those who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lives and who admitted smoking every day or on some days. Casual smokers were those smokers who reported puffing away only on some days.
In Utah, South Carolina, Nevada and several other states, the rate of casual smoking in 2001 was about double that reported in 1996. Kentucky had the lowest rate of casual smoking, while D.C. had the highest.
In contrast to the casual smoking figures, 41 states in the study reported little change in the number of current smokers.
That rate ranged from a low of 13.3 percent in Utah, which is home to a large population of Mormons who are opposed to tobacco use on religious grounds, to a high of 30.9 percent in Kentucky.
"We're doing a better job of preventing kids from starting smoking than we are in helping adults quit smoking," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington-based anti-tobacco group.
Myers added that the CDC study highlighted a continuing need for many states to increase funding for anti-tobacco programs and implement measures designed to restrict smoking in adults and kids.
In the past two years about half the state governments in the nation have increased excise taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. A number of others have passed legislation further restricting smoking in restaurants and public areas.
Some of the funding for these initiatives came from tobacco companies who agreed in 1997 and 1998 to pay $206 billion as part of landmark legal settlement with states that had sued the industry in a bid to recoup the public health-care costs of treating sick smokers.
Smokers strip an estimated $157 billion worth of medical treatment, lost wages and other expenses every year from the nation's coffers.
Anti-smoking advocates say these costs could be dramatically reduced if authorities clamped down on tobacco advertising and raised taxes on cigarettes to make them less affordable, particularly to young people.
Do you think it just might help if these "authorities"/politicians didn't STEAL the tax money to put in the general funds and used these monies to carry out these programs?
Call it "human nature." There comes a point where people just won't allow themselves to be dictated to any longer.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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I don't smoke. In fact, I find the smoking habit disgusting. But, I find the above sentence even more disgusting. Since when is it the government's job to save us from our choices, or try to persuade us to make the choice that government thinks we should make?
Sheesh!! Next thing you know, government is going to try to wean us from our guns. Oh, wait...they already are.
That is 440,000 more people dying yearly from cigarette caused lung cancer than die from marijuana each year! Cigarettes MUST BE OUTLAWED.
And also tell us what we can and cannot put into our own bodies...OH WAIT, they already are! :)
Yup. I've never smoked, and the only time I have any desire to do so is when I see the patronizing anti-smoking PSAs. Ditto for drugs and the intellectually insulting "drugs=terrorism" spots.
And how much do they pay in cigarette taxes?
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