Anti-smoking efforts working, but we can do better

There is plenty of good news in the latest statistics on smoking released last week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but that doesn’t mean Americans cannot and should not do better.

The proportion of adults who smoke was 17.8 percent in 2013, the lowest level since the 1964 ground-breaking surgeon general’s report, the first loud alarm about the deadly effects of cigarettes. Smoking’s popularity has fallen by more than half since 1965, when 52 percent of men and 34 percent of women were regular cigarette smokers, compared to last year’s rate of 20.5 percent among men and 15.3 percent among women.

The results of the National Health Interview Survey, an in-person report compiled each year, found other positive developments in 2013. People who still smoke are smoking less. In 2005, 80.8 percent of smokers said they lit up every day; last year, that was true of 76.9 percent of smokers. The daily users also puffed on fewer cigarettes per day — 14.2 versus 16.7 in 2005.

A 50-year study on the health consequences of smoking released earlier this year credited increased awareness of the diseases caused by smoking and new policies that ban lighting up in public for the long-term reduction in cigarette use.

Even China has taken notice. Last Friday, a historic tobacco control law was adopted for the capital Beijing, copying the restrictions in place across America; starting in June, the city will ban smoking in indoor public spaces, workplaces and on public transportation.

Americans, even with significant declines over the long term, are probably puffing too much to be able to cut the portion of smokers to 12 percent of adults by 2020, a goal set by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Attaining that low threshold will require a double-barreled approach — lots of smokers will have to give up the habit and a concerted effort will have to be made to stop young people from picking it up.