The share of adults who smoke cigarettes has hit an all-time low.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that the portion of adults who regularly smoke cigarettes fell to 13.7% in 2018, the lowest rate recorded ever and a two-thirds decline since the surgeon general first announced the negative health effects of smoking more than 50 years ago.
Cigarettes are still the most commonly used tobacco product, but more adults are increasingly taking up others, including e-cigarettes, resulting in a total of about 49 million Americans using tobacco products regularly. The percentage of people who took up e-cigarette use from 2017 to 2018 is up from 2.8% to 3.2%. CDC researchers say the increase is partly due to the elevated number of young adults using smokeless tobacco products like e-cigarettes and vapes.
“The sustained drop in adult smoking is encouraging, as we work to reduce tobacco-related disease and death in the U.S. through science-driven policy, compliance, and enforcement in addition to public education,” said Adm. Dr. Brett Giroir, acting Food and Drug Administration commissioner. “We remain dedicated to keeping pace with the evolving tobacco product landscape to ensure strong regulatory oversight in light of the increases in youth use of e-cigarette products in the U.S.”
An estimated 4.1 million high school students and 1.2 million middle school students use e-cigarettes, which has prompted government action via new legislation to limit the accessibility of vaping products to people under 21 years of age.
The CDC has advised young people to stay away from e-cigarettes since August, when a spate of fatal lung diseases broke out across the country. The number of such cases has hit 2,051. In Thursday’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC strongly recommended that adults quit smoking regular cigarettes as well, which kill about 480,000 people annually.
