Cigarette smoking among American adults hits record low  

In an encouraging development, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that the rate of cigarette smoking among American adults has touched its lowest level on record, thanks to the anti-smoking campaigns, smoke-free government policies and a significant drop in its prices.

According to the federal health agency report, nearly 17.8 percent of US adults smoked cigarettes last year, which is a drop from the 2005 and 1965 figures when 20.9 percent and 42.4 percent people had undergone smoking respectively.

Notably, the US government had started keeping records on smoking trends among the adults as well as the teens since 1965.

Along with an overall decline in the numbers of adult smokers, the CDC study also found a significant drop in daily smoking habits.

As per the study, the American smokers consumed an average of 14.2 cigarettes a day in 2013, a drop from 16.7 in 2005.

Brian King, a senior advisor with the CDC’s Smoking and Health office, said even if the declining trend is an encouraging development but the current rate is not sufficient to meet the federal goal of 12 percent reduction in the adult cigarette smoking by 2020.

“We need to accelerate the magnitude of the decline,” King asserted.

With 480,000 premature deaths annually, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable disease in the United States.

The CDC credited the large scale anti-smoking and anti-tobacco awareness programs and the increased access to proper medications and rehabilitation programs for playing a major role in the dropping smoking rates.