More teenagers snuffing out cigarettes, study says

By Daniel Yee
The Associated Press

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported yesterday that nearly 22 percent of high-school students said they were smokers in 2003 — down from more than 36 percent in 1997, and the lowest level since CDC began keeping track in 1975.

The drop was so dramatic that the percentage of high-school smokers is lower than the percentage of adult smokers for the first time in more than two decades. That was seen as an especially encouraging sign by the government.

In fact, the CDC study found that anti-tobacco efforts have been successful across the board, from curbing the number of first-time smokers to reducing the ranks of the heaviest smokers.

"We are reaching all the youth. If we can stop youth from becoming addicted smokers, eventually we can stop this epidemic," said Terry Pechanek, associate director of science for the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. "We're making the progress we've been working toward for the last 40 years."

Dr. John Banzhaf III, who helped mastermind lawsuits against the tobacco industry, said the study illustrates "probably the most dramatic progress which has been made in terms of any public-health problem, at least in recent memory."

"The question would be whether we have the political will to continue to do it," said Banzhaf, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health and professor of public-interest law at George Washington University Law School.

The CDC said that anti-tobacco efforts such as TV ads and school campaigns have been highly successful. Some programs were funded by the $206 billion settlement that tobacco companies and states reached in 1998.

Another big reason fewer teenagers are lighting up is the cost of a pack of cigarettes, the CDC said. The agency said cigarette prices increased 90 percent from 1997 to 2003, mostly because of tax increases. Washington state's $1.42-a-pack tax on cigarettes is among the nation's highest.

Students were classified as current smokers if they had lit up in the preceding 30 days.

The study found that the percentage of heavy smokers — those who lit up 20 days or more per month — fell to 9.7 percent from 16.8 percent in 1999.
 
Also, fewer students are trying cigarettes: A little more than 58 percent of students in 2003 said they tried smoking, down from more than 70 percent in 1999.

Still, the government noted that other studies recently have warned that the rate of decline in student smoking may be slowing.

The CDC blamed that on several factors, including more depictions of smoking in movies and a near doubling of spending on tobacco advertising from cigarette makers ($5.7 billion in 1997 to $11.2 billion in 2001). Also, states are spending less money from the tobacco settlement on smoking prevention.

Seattle Times staff contributed to this report.