Smokers aren't lighting up as often

ATLANTA -- Statistics released Thursday show a growing number of U.S. smokers aren't lighting up as often, but federal officials say cutting back without quitting is just as dangerous as not quitting at all.

A comparison of annual state surveys conducted from 1996 to 2001 shows that while the percentage of smokers remained steady, the number who said they smoked only occasionally rose in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

The highest smoking rate was in Kentucky at 30.9 percent; the lowest was Utah at 13.3 percent. None of the states has yet met health officials' 2010 goal of having a rate of 12 percent or less.

Analysts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention point to increased cigarette prices, higher taxes and smoking bans in public areas as likely reasons people are lighting up less frequently.

"This is still a phenomenon that we don't fully understand," said Terry Pechacek, associate director for science for the CDC's Office for Smoking and Health. "When it was first picked up in the 1980s, it was discounted in the public health community as an almost aberrant phenomenon. It was almost unusual for someone not to be a daily smoker."

The annual telephone survey asked adults "Have you smoked at least 100 cigarettes in your entire life?" and "Do you now smoke cigarettes every day, some days, or not at all?"

States should have comprehensive tobacco control programs to encourage smokers to stop smoking, the CDC said.

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