U.S. Smoking Rate Drops
For the first time on record, the percentage of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes has fallen below 20 percent, a new report shows.
An estimated 19.8 percent of American adults - 43.4 million individuals - were smokers in 2007. The new data is a percentage point below the 2006 figure and followed three years of modest progress, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to Thomas Glynn of the American Cancer Society, cigarette smoking rates were now the lowest since WorldWarI. “We’ve begun to come full circle on this,” he said.