Tuesday, September 7, 2010

ATLANTA (AP) -- One top federal health official calls it a "tragic" finding.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that smoking rates are holding steady in the United States -- with about one in five adults lighting up regularly.

The rate has basically been flat since about 2004. Last year's 21 percent rate is about the same as the year before.

Teen smoking rates haven't been declining either. That also stands at about one in five.

Health officials blame cuts in anti-tobacco campaigns, and shrewd marketing by cigarette companies.

The new report suggests that more than 46 million American adults still smoke cigarettes. The director of the CDC, Dr. Thomas Frieden, estimates that smoking kills 1,000 Americans a day.

Some experts were particularly disheartened by a CDC finding in a second report that nearly all children who live with a smoker -- 98 percent -- have measurable tobacco toxins in their body.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)