The CDC s latest survey of tobacco use among young people in America was released yesterday. For those of us interested in the betterment of our nation s public health, the strikingly good news was evident. Given that cigarette smoking is our nation s #1 public health emergency (not Ebola) and that 90 percent of smokers begin as teens, the news may be the best possible trend imaginable: teen smoking rates continued their dramatic declines of the past three years! The recent youth smoking rates are these:
2000: ~25 percent
2011: 18.1 percent
2012: 14 percent
2013: 12.7 percent
Note: Adult smoking rates have remained ~19.5 percent for the past few years.
So how has this news been dealt with in the media? Here s a highly-representative story in USA Today: E-cigarette use triples among high schoolers! While it s true that the incidence of any use of e-cigs tripled, from 1.5 percent to 4.5 percent, the almost-universal focus upon this statistic overshadowed the real news, declining youth smoking.
The CDC and its public health toadies have seemingly won out in the public relations battle over e-cigarettes. Their pervasive disdain for this groundbreaking, lifesaving technology has swept the mainstream media along into their We just don t know dreamworld, while the real problem cigarette smoking, killer of a half-million of us each year gets short shrift. I continually find myself amazed at how seemingly intelligent, insightful journalists can be so deluded, even after the CDC s repeated examples of their cluelessness on other matters. The stark facts here, that teen smoking, the source of the tragedy of death and disease from tobacco, is declining, has been lost in the official anti-harm-reduction propaganda.
For one example of a more balanced media perspective, see this piece: Youth Smoking Rates Hit All-Time Low, which has some commentary from experts (including myself).