State Health survey finds fewer NY teens smoking cigarettes

The Record
Published: Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The state Department of Health reported in 2005 that about 16.2 percent of high school students statewide smoked cigarettes. In 2007, that dropped to less than 13.8 percent, compared to 20 percent nationwide, according to excerpts from the health department's new report obtained by The Associated Press.

By:Valerie Bauman

ALBANY - A soon-to-be-released report on smoking in New York will say the number of high school students smoking cigarettes has declined more than 2 percent since 2005.

The state Department of Health reported in 2005 that about 16.2 percent of high school students statewide smoked cigarettes. In 2007, that dropped to less than 13.8 percent, compared to 20 percent nationwide, according to excerpts from the health department's new report obtained by The Associated Press.


"New York's youth are using tobacco at a lower rate than youth in most other states, and is currently ranked fifth lowest in youth who use tobacco," said Karmen Hanson, a policy analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. "New York's tobacco cessation and prevention programs are apparently working to reduce both youth and adult tobacco use rates."

Russ Sciandra, the director of the Center for a Tobacco Free New York, attributes the improvement to the state's various programs and advertisements to discourage tobacco use.

"I talk to people all over the country and everybody says New York has the best tobacco prevention program in the country," Sciandra said. "A lot of public health people (from other states) look at New York as a model, but it's the legislators who have to make it happen."

The 2007 data will be presented to the Tobacco Control Advisory Board Thursday.

The "youth risk behavior" survey gathered information from 13,439 youths between February and May 2007. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6 percent.

The report also found that 60 percent of New Yorkers had tried to quit at least once in the past year. That's compared to 54.1 percent of New Yorkers in 2006, and 39.7 percent nationwide.

New Yorkers were also more likely to say they would attempt to quit smoking in the next 30 days - with 37.6 percent of New Yorkers answering they would give it a try, compared to 21.5 percent in the U.S. as a whole. The quitting data was collected in surveys between January and December 2007 involving 7,769 people. The margin of error was plus or minus 1.4 percent.

Jeff Willett, director of the state Tobacco Control Program, said the $85 million dedicated to anti-tobacco initiatives has gone to advertising, community and school outreach, nicotine replacement therapies and a hot line to support quitting.

"While the news is encouraging and we've made incredible progress there's still work to be done," Willett said.

The improvements were all recorded in 2007 - before a new cigarette tax was imposed June 3. The increase sent the tax from $1.25 to $2.75 per pack. In most of the state, cigarettes range between $6 and $8 a pack depending on brand. They can cost as much as $10 in New York City, which has its own tax.

The incidence of adult New Yorkers smoking in 2007 was nearly 19 percent, statistically the same as 2006. That's compared to 20 percent nationwide. That data was collected in a yearlong 2007 survey of 6,489 people with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percent.

Advocates are calling for the state to maintain anti-tobacco funding levels.

"You can't let up in this," Sciandra said. "You can't say 'Well we made these gains and that's great and we're ahead of the rest of the country and we can stop.' Because the tobacco companies are still out there and they're trying to sell cigarettes."