Smoking Rates are not on the Decline in the United States

According to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even though a lot of progress has been made in reducing the number of smokers in the United States over the past few decades, during the past few years this decline has stopped.

Between 1998 to 2008, in the United States the percentage of smokers has dropped from 24.1 to 20.6 percent.

The report states that, "during the past five years, rates have shown virtually no change." The smoking rate has actually risen slightly from 19.8% in 2007 to 20.6% in 2008.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC director said, "Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., and we know what to do. We want to provide support to states and localities to implement proven programs, and if we do that, we can save literally millions of lives in the decades to come."

Smoking levels are higher among those who do not have a college education. The director of CDC claims that the lack of funding for smoking cessation programs is the main cause of this problem…

[Via: usnews.com]

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