After 40 years of continual declines, the smoking rate in the United States has stabilized for the past five years, with one in every five Americans still lighting up regularly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Moreover, more than half of all children are exposed to toxic secondhand smoke and 98% of those who live with a smoker have measurable levels of toxic chemicals in their blood stream, setting them up for future harm from cancer, heart disease and a variety of other ailments.
“If you smoke and have children, don’t kid yourself. Your smoke is harming your children,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, CDC director, said in a news conference.
I am sure I shouldn’t have been, but this surprised me.
I also smoke.I couldn’t give up.