According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 14 percent of adults are smokers, which is down from the reported 16 percent in 2016. The number of teenagers smoking is also less with a reported 9 percent that claims to still use cigarettes.
Cigarettes Are Declining
The CDC released the new figures on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, which show that there hasn't been much change in the past two years with regards to smoking. However, experts state that there is a clear decline and it's continuing.
K. Michael Cummings, from the Tobacco Research Program at the Medical University of South Carolina, stated that everything is pointing in the right direction, including the declining cigarette sales and other indicators. In the 1960s, at least 42 percent of Americans were smokers as it was very common for people to smoke in various places, including restaurants, hospitals, and office buildings.
Experts suggest that the decline in smoking may stem from a better understanding that smoking is not good a person's health and the deadly diseases smoking can lead to. Experts continued that various anti-smoking campaigns, taxes on cigarettes, and banning smoking in certain places are a few factors that have led to the decline in smoking.
Experts also think that e-cigarettes are also the reason why people are opting out of purchasing cigarettes. Unlike cigarettes that burn tobacco, the electronic smoking device heats liquid nicotine into a vapor. While experts have stated this is less of a health risk, it does raise concerns that people could become addicted to nicotine. More teens are using e-cigarettes with an estimated 13 percent of high schoolers that use it or other vaping devices.
Cigarettes Are Deadly
On Monday, June 18, a new law has been passed that requires tobacco companies to describe their products as "deadly" and addictive on their websites. The companies must also describe five topics including the health risks, lack of any health benefits, and possible addictiveness to nicotine from smoking low-tar cigarettes.
Companies are also required to note that deadly effects from second-hand smoking and the companies efforts to change the blend and design of cigarettes that will increase the amount of nicotine a smoker will inhale, which makes them more addictive.
These new changes were ordered following U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler's "watershed" ruling that said of tobacco companies, they "violated civil racketeering laws and lied to the American public for decades about the health effects of smoking and their marketing to kids."
