The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting that tobacco use by teens has decreased significantly in the last 10 years. The data comes as part of the CDC's current Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
For the report, CDC researchers pulled numbers from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, which surveyed 22,679 middle schoolers and high schoolers from 2000 to 2009. In that time, reported tobacco use dropped from 34.5 percent to 23.9 percent for high schoolers and 15.1 percent to 8.2 percent for middle schoolers.
"The findings from this report suggest further efforts are needed to counter tobacco industry influences on youths," the CDC report says.
"New Food and Drug Administration regulations which prohibit the distribution of free samples of smokeless tobacco to youths and prohibit tobacco brand name sponsorship of any athletic, musical or other social or cultural events are designed to help prevent tobacco use among youths," it concludes.
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