CDC reports no change in percentage of teen smokers

WASHINGTON As states lose money for fighting teenage smoking and tobacco companies find ways to get new smokers to light up, anti-smoking efforts have stalled over the last five years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that smoking among teenagers aged 14 to 18 remained at 22 percent between 2003 and 2007. At the same time, however, the percentage of teenagers trying smoking for the first time declined by 20 percent from 1999’s 70 percent.

In 1999, 16.8 percent of teenage smokers said they smoked 20 cigarettes or more over the course of a month; in the 2003-2007 period, that number had declined to 8 percent.