Teen Smoking At Lowest Levels In Years

A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that cigarette smoking among high school students has plummeted to its lowest rate since officials started keeping track in 1991. The percent of high school students who smoke dropped from 36.4 percent in 1997 to only 21.9 percent in 2003. Terry Pechacek, co-author of the CDC study, said that the rate of smoking in youth "is finally being shut off."

No one is quite sure what is responsible for the decline in smoking among high school students, but Pechacek said he has a good theory. "For many years, there was a Surgeon General's Warning printed on packs of cigarettes that warned smokers of the health risks associated with smoking. The warning did not seem to have any effect on teens, so ten years ago we changed it to something we hoped would work better." He said the new labels added on information to the old warnings, giving them more teen-related themes such as "smoking has been found to cause cancer and early death, which means 10-20 fewer years for hanging out at the mall." Pechacek said he believes one of the most effective warnings was "smoking has been proven to cause lung disease, bed-wetting, pimples, and toe fungus."
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