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SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah is receiving praise from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- In 2009, an estimated 20.6% (46.6 million) of U.S. adults were current cigarette smokers.
- From 2005 to 2009, the proportion of U.S. adults who were current cigarette smokers did not change (20.9% in 2005 and 20.6% in 2009).
- Men (23.5%) were more likely than women (17.9%) to be current smokers.
- Smoking causes approximately 443,000 premature deaths annually.
- By state, the prevalence of current smoking ranged from 9.8% (Utah) to 25.6% (Kentucky and West Virginia).
A new report from the CDC says if all states followed Utah's lead, millions fewer people would be smoking.
Utah has had the nation's lowest smoking rate for a long time.
"We were one of the first in the nation to have bans on smoking inside of restaurants. It seems to have come to a point where everybody says, you know, it's time to do these things. They work. They help save lives," says David Neville, spokesman for the Utah Tobacco Control and Prevention Program.
Neville also points out that in the last 10 years, the state's smoking rate has dropped from around 14 percent to 9.5 percent.
According to the CDC study, California's smoking rate is the second-lowest at 13 percent. [CLICK HERE to read the entire study]
The same report found more than half of all children are exposed to secondhand smoke and 98 percent of those who live with a smoker have toxic chemicals in their bloodstream.
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
