Report: Fewer Americans Smoking, But More Need To Quit

Washington, DC (AHN) - The amount of cigarette smokers in the United States has dipped below 20 percent, according to a government report.

An estimated 19.8 percent of U.S. adults are current smokers, down from 20.8 percent in 2006, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Report released Nov. 13.

But health officials caution they don't believe that at the current rate the CDC will realize its goal of reducing the amount of smokers to 12 percent of the U.S. population by 2010.

"The good news, we continue to see fewer people smoking. The bad news is we need more people to quit," Janet Collins, director of the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion said in a prepared statement.

CDC estimates of annual smoking deaths indicate that 443,000 people have died from cigarette smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke between the years 2000 and 2004.

Health care costs from cigarette smoking cost the United States about $96 billion a year, according to the CDC.