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The federal government spent more than $12 million over eight years to help New Yorkers quit smoking - but only about 1 percent actually did, according the National Cancer Institute.
The program lasted eight years and targeted smokers over 18.
In 1992-1993, the first year of the study, 21.5 percent of adults in New York state smoked. In 1998-1999, the last years of the study, it dropped to 20.5 percent.
The lead author of the study was Frances Stillman, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health - named after Mayor Bloomberg, who signed the city's tough new anti-smoking law. Stillman called the drop "small but statistically significant."
Part of the money was also spent to train local anti-smoking advocates.
The federal government spent a total of $128 million in 17 states, including New York. Smoking among adults dropped by about 3 percentage points - just over half a point more than in states that didn't get any money.
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