U.S. surgeon general report finds 1 in 4 high school seniors smoke

In its first report on youth smoking since 1994, the U.S. surgeon general’s office found that the youth smoking rate is still at 25 percent, with progress toward reducing that figure stalling over the past decade (Source: “Report: 25% of youths smoke,” Reuters via Columbus Dispatch, March 9, 2012).

“Today, more than 600,000 middle-school students and 3 million high-school students smoke. We don’t want our children to start something now that they won’t be able to change later in life,” Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin said in the report.

According to the report, about 80 percent of youth smokers will continue to smoke as adults, and 9 in 10 curruent adult smokers started before the age of 18.