Smoking rates cut in half. Eight million lives saved. More than 800,000 fewer lung cancer deaths. Fifty years after the U.S. Surgeon General first warned about the dangers of smoking, the benefits of quitting have never been clearer.
Yet 18 percent of the population still smokes. Nearly 2,000 teenagers take up the habit every day and tobacco companies advertise candy-flavored tobacco products with impunity. Is it possible this is the best the United States will ever do?
Health experts are convinced it isn’t — and they point to maps that rank states and regions by smoking status as proof. A look at a county-by-county breakdown of who smokes and where makes it clear that there are opportunities to get smoking rates way down, they say.
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/50-years-progress-cuts-smoking-rates-half-can-we-ever-2D11899207
