WASHINGTON – The campaign to reduce teenagers' smoking has stalled, new federal data show, dismaying federal health officials and anti-smoking advocates who said that one of the nation's most important public health priorities is faltering.
Smoking by teens fell sharply and steadily between 1997 and 2003, but the latest data from a large federal survey tracking smoking and other risky behaviors among young people found that the proportion of teens who smoke leveled off between 2003 and 2007, reaching about 20 percent.
“This is the most dramatic indication that the great progress (we) were making has stalled,” said Terry Pechacek of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which released the new data last week. “This has very negative long-term implications.”
Anti-smoking advocates agreed.
“More progress must be made to ensure youngsters at these critical age levels continue to turn away from smoking,” Cheryl Healton of the American Legacy Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based anti-smoking group, said in a statement.
“The lack of greater progress in recent years is a clear warning to elected officials to resist complacency and redouble efforts to reduce tobacco use,” Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington advocacy group, said in a statement. “We know how to win the fight against tobacco use, but we will not win it – and our progress could even reverse – without the political leadership to implement proven solutions.”
