Study: Little progress in reducing cigarette use among high schoolers
July 08, 2010 4:04 PM
ATLANTA -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says one in five high school students still smokes, and that hasn't changed much since 2003.
Ann Malarshay of the CDC Office on Smoking and Health blames big spending by tobacco companies on cigarette advertising, a lot of smoking in movies popular among teens and cutbacks in state budgets for antismoking efforts.
She say it's kept the U.S. from meeting a national 2010 health objective to reduce smoking among high school students to 16 percent or less.
The data is from CDC's national Youth Risk Behavior Survey to evaluate trends in cigarette use among students in grades 9-through-12.
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