CDC Report: U.S. Adult Smoking Rate at Lowest Level Since 1965

[Nate760]

CDC Report: U.S. Adult Smoking Rate at Lowest Level Since 1965 - California Healthline

Highlights:

The report classified individuals as smokers if they reported having smoked at least 100 cigarettes throughout their lifetimes and said they smoked at least some days.

"Some days"? Really? Good job gathering precise data, CDC.

Meanwhile, the report showed that U.S. adults who smoke do so less often and smoke fewer cigarettes than adult smokers did in previous years.

Wow, you smoke fewer cigarettes when you smoke less often? Crazy.

According to the report, smoking rates might have declined because of:

• Higher cigarette prices;
• Anti-smoking campaigns; and
• Greater access to cessation medications and programs

CDC in the report noted concern over U.S. residents' increased use of electronic cigarettes, citing a lack of long-term scientific evidence on the potential health benefits and risks. In addition, the report noted that e-cigarette use tripled among high school students from 2011 to 2013, reaching 4.5%

I, for one, am horrified that my kids have a 1 in 25 chance of potentially taking a puff from a vapor device at some point before their 18th birthday. You should see how hard I'm clutching my pearls.

 

[DrMA]

In other words - "Look, our tactics are working, we've made outstanding progress. But now we need even more money to root out the last remaining smokers who for some mysterious reason refuse to quit (or die). Oh and there's concern about e-cigarettes, so we're gonna need some more money to deal with that too."

 

[KODIAK (TM)]

CDC Office on Smoking and Health Director Tim McAfee in a statement said, "There is encouraging news in this study, but we still have much more work to do to help people quit" smoking

No surprise that Timmy's comments above are "conveniently" placed right after the e-cig fear-mongering blurb. Why even bother with separate paragraphs?

Christ. It's only 7pm and I'm down to 11 beers in the fridge. You guys are making it difficult to pace myself tonight.